Originally published January 6, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified January 7, 2008 at 12:18 AM
Gates shows how Microsoft is expanding into more platforms and interfaces
...
The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- Microsoft Corp. might not be the unbeatable giant it once seemed to be, but Chairman Bill Gates made the case Sunday night that its technologies are becoming even more flexible and powerful as they seep into automobiles, Internet-based TV networks and living rooms.
A few months away from leaving his daily duties at Microsoft to focus on his philanthropy, Gates used his traditional kickoff keynote at the International Consumer Electronics Show to highlight how Microsoft is extending the reach of its software beyond desktops and servers, and incorporating alternative inputs like voice and touch.
"The first digital decade has been a great success," he said. "This is just the beginning. There's nothing holding us back from going much faster and much further in the second digital decade."
Traditional PC programs got less airtime than in previous keynotes. That contrast stood out considering not only the tepid response for Microsoft's year-old Windows Vista operating system but also the way that Web-based applications are threatening Microsoft's hold on desktop computing.
Instead Gates bounced from cars -- Microsoft's Sync technology for playing music and making phone calls should be in all Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicles in the 2009 model year -- to the living room. Gates and Robbie Bach, who heads Microsoft's entertainment division, announced an expansion of the high-definition Hollywood movies and TV shows that can be downloaded through the Xbox video game console's online service.
Those include shows from ABC television and other properties of Walt Disney Co. (which, by the way, counts Microsoft uber-rival and Apple Inc. chief Steve Jobs as its biggest individual shareholder).
Gates also explained how Mediaroom, the Internet-based television platform that Microsoft created for telecommunications companies to sell, will work with TNT and Showtime to let users select their own camera angles when viewing sports. For example, a Nascar fan could maintain a constant view from his favorite driver's car, or plug into a certain ringside shot in a boxing match. For now, though, Mediaroom is mainly used for TV services in other countries.
Microsoft will have another chance to show its video talents this summer, when it runs NBC's online Olympics portal, which is designed to let people zero in on specific events that interest them.
"Building great connected TV experiences is not just a hobby for Microsoft," Bach said.
Gates and Bach talked up improvements in ways for people to interact with software by voice, touch and gesture. In addition to the speech-recognizing functions in Sync-enabled cars, Microsoft plans to soon upgrade the voice-activated information searches available through its subsidiary Tellme. It also will augment the system underlying Surface, Microsoft's computer in a table that responds to users' touches and gestures.
Surface is debuting as a virtual concierge in hotels, but Gates hopes it will soon be used in retail stores. For example, Gates showed how an outdoors-shop customer could use a Surface table to customize a snowboard and transfer an image of his creation to a mobile device simply by putting it on the table.
It was that kind of demonstration that inspired thousands of techies to begin lining up for the speech more than four hours before it started.
![]()
What they might not have expected -- and what they clearly relished -- was a self-deprecating farewell video in which Gates mocked the idea that he would desperately cast about for things to do after retiring as Microsoft's chief software architect this July.
It showed a giddy Gates rapping, trying to lift weights, pleading for a spot in U2 and lobbying for a place on a presidential ticket. The video's cameo appearances from the likes of Brian Williams, Jay-Z, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg and George Clooney provoked uproarious laughter -- not a common occurence at a tech conference.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Nintendo re-enlists Mario, savior of video-game industry
Verizon-Frontier deal stirs concern among consumers
Brier Dudley: 'Guitar Hero' founder excited about future
Gaps for consumers in Democrat health care bills
Hutch gets $10M from Bezos family for immunotherapy research

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup
Real Salt Lake defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy with penalty kicks after 120 minutes of play at Qwest Field in Seattle.
general classifieds
Garage & estate salesFurniture & home furnishings
Sporting goods
just listed
42" Hitachi Plasma 1080i - $500
8 Drawer Dresser with Attached Mirror - $200
8 seat pecon formal dining table and china hutch - $1500
More listings
POST A FREE LISTING
shopping
Give yourself a treat and visit Watson Kennedy's Holiday Open Houses
More minding the store
events for Monday, Nov. 23
- Castle Discount with Military ID
- CraftsGiving
- Alhambra 20 Percent Off Jewelry Sale
- Dish It Up! Totally Truffles
editors' picks
- Phinney Ridge & Greenwood shopping
- Independent video stores
- Pioneer Square shopping
- Garden furnishings
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
374 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
210 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
171 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
152 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
97 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
95 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
83 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
82 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
74 - Seattle woman charged with knife attack on boyfriend's ex
66
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit

