Originally published February 6 2006
Gates delivers Consumer Electronics Show keynote address
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Gates' speech did not present much new information, but rather affirmed Gate's commitment to making Microsoft a part of every aspect of living, not just PCs. There was also a small look at Vista, the successor to Windows XP.
This isn't a dig at the Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people) co-founder, or his company.
It's just that Gates didn't have a lot of news to deliver at the Consumer Electronics Show keynote address, and what he did say took an awfully long time--more than 90 minutes, by my very rough count.
The much shorter synopsis: Microsoft wants to do more than run your PC; it wants to be in your living room, your phone and everywhere else you can think of, just as fast as it can.
The difference this time around was incremental: a peek at Vista, the long-awaited successor to the Windows XP operating system due out this year, which will feature more robust media capabilities; a handful of announcements about new partnerships, including a tie-up with DirectTV Group (nyse: DTV - news - people) that will let consumers who use Microsoft's Media Center software port the satellite service directly to their PCs; and multiple rounds of praise for the new Xbox 360, the new videogame system Microsoft hopes will also double as a home entertainment hub.
And Xbox 360 seems like a guaranteed success, at least as a gaming platform--Gates said the company will have shipped up to 5.5 million units by next summer.
But now, Microsoft no longer looks as if it can dominate the competition through willpower alone: Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people) runs the dominant Internet search business, and Yahoo!
has a dominant position as an Internet content provider.
Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people) now dominates the mobile-entertainment-player business and may soon leverage that lead to make a run at the same home-media-player business Microsoft has been trying to crack.
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