Bill Gates may be stepping away from full-time work later this year, but he still has a few things he wants to show off.
In his annual Consumer Electronics Show address, the Microsoft chairman demonstrated a slew of fashionable PCs and touted the role of computing interfaces like speech and touch.
"This is my last [CES] keynote," Gates told the audience, noting that this is the first time since he was 17 doesn't have a full-time job at Microsoft. "What do you do on your last day?" he asked.
Gates, who is shifting to part-time work at Microsoft later this year, is also using the speech to note that his software company has now shipped 100 million copies of Windows Vista.
Gates noted that getting so many Vista PCs out will make the platform more attractive. "That's a very significant milestone for application development and specialised hardware work."
Gates' CES address has become an annual tradition, a sort of tech industry State of the Union, although this may well be his last year for some time.
The annual event is Microsoft's opportunity to lay out its vision of where technology is headed and make the case for its approach, as contrasted with that of rivals such as Apple and Sony. Not all of the products touted by Gates, however, have become smash hits. Past keynote addresses have introduced tablet PCs and various digital household objects that have yet to become mainstream. Last year, Gates used his appearance to show, among other things, Windows Home Server.
This year, Gates' most notable gadget is a "mobile navigator" that can be used to point at a person or place and get more information. The software powering the technology exists within Microsoft's research labs, but Gates doesn't see this device coming to market as a standalone product. Rather, some of these capabilities are likely to find their way into other gadgets, such as cameras and phones.
In the more near-term realm, Microsoft said Samsung will start offering an adaptor that lets its flat-screen TVs to act as Media Center extenders. That lets the TVs show videos, pictures, and music stored on a Vista PC in another room.
As for PCs, Microsoft plans to show off a new Lamborghini laptop from Asus, as well as Lenovo's new IdeaPad consumer laptop line, which includes a model that uses flash memory rather than a hard drive for storage.
Gates also showed off the role that speech and touch will play in the future. Microsoft has a new concept application for its Surface computer that shows how the product can tie into Windows Live services and other devices.
Gates used the tabletop Surface PC to design a custom snowboard and then send the design to his Windows mobile phone. His design included "Bill!" on the underside.
"I've got something that looks pretty good," Gates said.
Ever the fan of speech recognition technology, Gates plans to demonstrate how mobile search can be improved by combining GPS data with Tellme's speech recognition technology.
Microsoft also plans to note the company's progress in IPTV -- digital television delivered over Internet Protocol as opposed to traditional cable or satellite. Microsoft now has around one million set top boxes in commercial use with its Mediaroom software, and its partners add two subscribers every minute, according to the company. AT&T, the largest US customer, plans to have one million users itself by the end of the year.
In automotive news, Gates will tout the fact that Ford has sold 30,000 cars equipped with the Sync in-car entertainment system that Microsoft co-developed with the car maker. Ford expects to sell 1 million Sync-enabled cars by 2009.
In a deal finalised just before the keynote, Microsoft has signed on UK incumbent telco BT as the first company to use the Xbox 360 as an IPTV set top box. Gates announced plans for the game console to act as a set-top box at last year's CES. BT Vision, which combines gaming and Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV service will be available to customers in the middle of 2008, Microsoft said.
