Bill Gates made his 11th keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show 2008 in Las Vegas. The address was full of a lot of reviews of the past as well as a peep into the future of technology.
There are a couple of new deals. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor (MGM), Disney, ABC Television, and NBC.
Gates said
“Since I first started talking about the Digital Decade in 2001, the speed with which digital technology has become central to the way we work, learn and play has been amazing. But in many ways, we are at the very beginning of the transformation that software will enable. During
the next Digital Decade, technology will make our lives richer, more connected, more productive and more fulfilling in profound and exciting ways.”
Looking at the future, Gates said that the coming age will be that of ubiquitous computing and connected world. A service-connected world will mean people can get information anywhere they want, seamlessly.
Microsoft’s deal will NBC will result in the latter providing Microsoft with the video feeds for MSN.com. For the first time, the Olympics, to be held at Beijing in 2008 will be available on MSN. Completely free of cost for the end consumer. The video will be powered by the Microsoft Silverlight technology.
Microsoft has been pushing its X-Box device as the complete entertainment solution. In the CES, it was announced that Microsoft X-Box will now have programmes from Disney, ABC and MGM library. Users of X-Box Live service can now watch on-demand videos from these networks and companies.
Microsoft President of the Entertainment & Devices Division Robbie Bach says,
“Xbox Live Marketplace is the destination for high-definition movies,
TV shows and music videos. And, with the new Disney-ABC and MGM partnerships, we are bringing even more compelling high-definition
content to people through their Xbox 360.”
Besides these, Gates predicted the coming of the new natural user interface that will more closely reflect the way the user interacts with each other and arrival of more and more high-definition content.
