Gates shows off Vista in CES keynote

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Observations from watching the webcast (long read)

I?m watching Bill Gates? keynote address and many thoughts shoot trough my mind:

Keynote started with a lengthy, self-centered, plain stupid introduction from the exhibition organizer. If I click to watch Bill Gate?s keynote I?m hardly interested in watching a 15 minute intro by some whacker from the exhibition.

Then comes a video clip, poorly, unprofessionally made to usher Mr. Gates. It plays about 5 minutes, and adds to my aggravation as I?m getting tired and uninterested waiting for Mr. Gates to come on stage and deliver his keynote. The video presents many archive photos of Mr. Gates from the time when Microsoft was born. This is constantly and without following any sense mixed with colourful effects sporting Windows Media and Windows logos.

Mr. Gates is on stage. He didn?t even come. He is just there, leans on some funny pillar prop, with a vase with flowers and a picture frame and repeats after the exhibition organizer that he?s Time?s person of the year. I?m thinking: didn?t I start up this webcast 20 minutes ago in order to learn what?s new in technology?

He goes on showing a completely utopian view of communication between his phone, the pc and online services, without any supporting evidence or expected timeline. He keeps on stressing that software is making this possible. To change the topic to windows he stresses that Windows market has grown by 10%. Luckily he didn?t mention the alternatives. Linux and Mac OS have significantly outgrown their market share, so the 10% would look weaker at their double digit growth. He then continues that the year 2006 is very very important because we?ll get Windows Vista and Office 12. Or was it 13, 14? I loose the track slowly. Anyway, I wonder what new features will it have. My colleagues use probably about tenth of MS Word 2.0 features.

Then he gives word to some marketing troll, a young, no-juice-inside, show-off guy, who makes an effort selling the upcoming Windows Vista.

We hear it has a fast search. 2 year old Google desktop, Hotbot, Altavista desktop and the really nice MSN desktop shoot through my mind. I fail to see anything new about it. He continues to present other Windows Vista features. Sidebar is a really boring adaptation of Konfabulator or Mac OS Dashboard widgets. Nothing new there. Taskbar now sports a a preview of the window which appears when you hover a mouse on it. Firstly, we?ve seen an active taskbar in Mac OS X finder 5 years ago, so it?s about time to ?innovate? and put it into Windows. Secondly if I have to go as far as to hover a mouse to see something, I might just as well click it, so all use is gone. All that stays is another useless gimmick. This is sad. Then comes switching between windows in Canon?s ZoomBrowser?s way, in 3D. Another extremely useless feature. The whole thing just gets sadder. Internet Explorer will sport tabbed browsing, just like Opera did 10 years ago, and Firefox 5 years ago. Also, there will be an Expose type of feature to view all tabs at once. If you don?t feel like holding your breath, just start your Firefox load the foXpose plugin and see if you like the feature. Of course, the main idea comes from Mac OS and is very badly copied. I?m thinking: ?Will this keynote ever start chearing me up??

Next comes a presentation of Windows Media Player, which, again, has a new search and a new way of organizing your music. Think iTunes and the guy has lost your attention already.

As a highlight, MTV big fish comes over and talks about some new service called Urge, which will work with the new Windows Media Player. He seems a pretty relaxed guy and after his short presentation, luckily, the marketing whacker suggests we listen to some music. Coincidentally he plays Justin Timberlake. We hear about 10 seconds of beat and before my brain switches to music listening mode Justin Timberlake himself coincidentally enters stage, and the beat is interrupted. I?m thinking: ?The marketing whacker is really trying to piss me off now. I trusted him, yet he didn?t really mean it when he suggested we listen to music!? Justin continues the show?s poor taste by making fun of Mr. Gates, who kindly accepts it and shakes his hand.

Mr. Gates finally takes the stage again and talks about smartphones. He hold his Treo and plays with it for half a minute with the camera man trying to catch a glimpse of his display as he jerks it from side to side. Unsuccessfully. Mr. Gate?s tells us about how he has photos on the desktop of his Treo, the audience will have to take his word for it. I almost forgot to mention that throughout the presentation a blue backdrop filled with a number of devices (Xbox, PC Screen, Phone, etc..) fights for attention as Mr. Gates is speaking.

Media Center is presented. It looks pretty neat and reminds me of Tivo coupled with the good ol? open source VLC streaming technology. A few tiny gadgets with ultra high resolution wide screens are shown. I?m thinking: ?And where is your market?? Live.com is introduced and looks pretty cool. HD looked interesting. The new device is gonna cost $500. I?m not gonna go for it unless it supports H.264 AND DivX 6.0 HD specification and ethernet. By the way, throughout the show, a round blue bubble with a windows logo keeps rolling into my face. It?s supposed to be a transition I figure. Media Center is nice though and finally something that Steve Jobs hasn?t presented 5 years ago. Actually I can?t wait to see the Macworld in a few weeks and their version of it.

Peter Moore, Vice president for Xbox enters. Conspicuously reminding me of Steve Jobs it becomes apparent that he actually IS playing Steve Jobs. Wow! As I watch I understand the guy has done his homework. Isn?t that Steve Jobs there? I start cheering up, the webcast gets the juice. Xbox presentation boosts the whole show to a whole new level. Some ESPN legendary commentator comes, Gates comes, Ballmer joins in, they make fun. Nice.. BTW, Xbox is going to accept HD DVDs. That?s an important detail that users were waiting to hear.

Bill Gates concludes the show with a brief statement and webcast finishes much better than it had begun, with rock music playing in the background.

BTW, take it all with a grain of salt, I didn't mean to offend anybody.

Posted by: myxner   Posted on: 01/05/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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