Expect more for 2006, Microsoft’s Bill Gates says
With files from Jim Jamieson
Province
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates (left) and CEO Steve Ballmer (right) introduce Xbox 360 video game as box announcer Al Berstein comments. — AP
As the massive Consumer Electronics show opened its doors to about 150,000 exhibitors in Las Vegas yesterday, the hottest rumour had fast-expanding Google Inc. set to unveil a Google-based PC with its own Operating System today — one that would compete with Microsoft’s Windows.
The annual personal technology showcase is the pre-eminent trade show of its kind in North America and offers a glimpse of the newest products and trends that will be seen in the marketplace this year.
In his traditional show-opening speech, Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates offered his latest vision of the digital lifestyle but he downplayed the Google rumour.
“Whatever they announce, they announce,” he said. “They will obviously branch out beyond Internet search, but I think the expectations won’t live up to reality.”
Gates touted the growth and maturation of the so-called “digital lifestyle,” where consumers’ lives will more and more be immersed in a computer-chip environment.
“2005 was a very big year for the PC [personal computer], but 2006 will probably be even bigger. It’ll be a big year for the digital lifestyle,” Gates said.
The new digital environment, he said, has come about thanks to the widespread availability of high definition video, new partnerships and user-friendly products.
Besides the new Xbox 360 video game and multimedia entertainment system launched in December, Gates hyped Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, Windows Vista, expected this fall.
Windows Vista will feature faster interaction with tools such as the cellphone and office computer.
This interactivity, aimed at boosting work and entertainment capacities, is the result of partnerships.
Microsoft is building a search engine into the next version of its Windows operating system and creating links to online versions of popular programs.
Google runs the most-used search site and has expanded its services to include free instant messaging, e-mail, maps and online photos. Microsoft posted its slowest ever sales growth last fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the high definition wars continued as manufacturers of competing next-generation video formats — Blu-ray and HD DVD — announced products for the North American market.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game platform will later this year have an external drive to play HD DVDs, and Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. said it will sell high-definition players that support its HD DVD format in the U.S. in March.
But rival Sony Corp. also said it will start selling players supporting Blu-ray disc in the U.S. this summer.
© The Vancouver Province 2006
