Pardon my French, but perhaps with Bill gone MicroSoft can think outside of the X-Box and produce some decent software.

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Mr. Gates mentioned that his [former] company will run the 2008 Olympics Website, and its Adobe Flash competitor Silverlight will be the only way to watch Olympic video online. Those without Silverlight will be out of luck.

Oh that's going to go over really well. My guess is that screaming users that can't get it to work, screaming users that don't want ANOTER obscure plug in, and legal action from various national, state, and local governments will force M$ to change their mind on this. All there needs to be is a few hundred thousand angry messages to the Olympic Committes and they will come down HARD on MS and force them to change their minds.

It's just for the NBC Olympics website, there will be plenty of other sites with footage available on it, at least elsewhere in the world!

The NBC site has the US rights, don't forget the Olympics are actually in Beijing! Why not checkout the actual official website - http://en.beijing2008.cn/

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geoduck wrote:

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Mr. Gates mentioned that his [former] company will run the 2008 Olympics Website, and its Adobe Flash competitor Silverlight will be the only way to watch Olympic video online. Those without Silverlight will be out of luck.

Oh that's going to go over really well. My guess is that screaming users that can't get it to work, screaming users that don't want ANOTER obscure plug in, and legal action from various national, state, and local governments will force M$ to change their mind on this. All there needs to be is a few hundred thousand angry messages to the Olympic Committes and they will come down HARD on MS and force them to change their minds.

I guess MSFT missed the memo that adherence to open standards is the new litmus test. Their exclusionary tactics were all the rage of the '90s, appealing only to Wall Street types who think the only way to success is to achieve monopoly.

Honestly, I think Bill Gates has been losing his focus over the past several years, and it really shows with MS' latest offerings (some critics might even say "leavings"). Leaving the business in the hands of an unappealing, loudmouthed salesman was not a wise choice, and without a central figure to keep product development on track, Microsoft is going to be headed towards some dire straits over the next several years or so.

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geoduck wrote:
Oh that's going to go over really well. All there needs to be is a few hundred thousand angry messages to the Olympic Committes and they will come down HARD on MS and force them to change their minds.

Yeah, no kidding. Microsoft loves to tout support for open standards when it suits their agenda, don't they? And on the flip side, they don't seem bothered in the least with using an important client's website to pad Silverlight's market share.

Personally, I will NEVER download or use Silverlight. For the sole reason that MS really jerks around Mac customers with flaky-to-no support on their products, like WMV, Explorer, and Office. Now that M$ really, REALLY wants Silverlight to be a contender to Flash, making it work equally well on all platforms is a top priority.

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Guest wrote:
It's just for the NBC Olympics website, there will be plenty of other sites with footage available on it, at least elsewhere in the world!

The NBC site has the US rights, don't forget the Olympics are actually in Beijing! Why not checkout the actual official website - http://en.beijing2008.cn/

That's good to know. Every news article I've glanced at about this says "the 2008 Olympics Website'. Of course glanced is the operative word here. The Olympics is WAY down the list of things I give a d*mn about. Heck in 2010 the Winter Games are in Vancouver, just across the water from me and I likely won't watch any of it.

If I go there, will it be recalled like all the toys?

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LAS VEGAS - Bill Gates, the soon to be ex-Chairman of Microsoft, had little that was interesting to say at his CES keynote on Sunday, according to the New York Times Monday. In fact, it was a "snore."

Bill Gates is not stepping down as Chairman of Microsoft, he is simply going to stop working at Microsoft full-time. He's decided to leave day to day operations in the hands of his management team come July 2008, and beyond working at Microsoft part-time, he will be working at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation full-time.

As far as Bill Gate's keynote being a "snore" I'm confused as to what exactly Saul Hansell was expecting from Bill Gates' keynote. It's not like Bill Gates is known for showmanship, he's known for being the richest man in the world.

Bill Gates was delivering the Keynote Address at the CES. If he didn't have anything to say, he shouldn't have delivered it.

If he just wants to do a last hurrah, get someone with some stage presence to go up and give a goddamn presentation, and Bill can do a walk on, or a cameo.

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Guest wrote:
Bill Gates was delivering the Keynote Address at the CES. If he didn't have anything to say, he shouldn't have delivered it.

If he just wants to do a last hurrah, get someone with some stage presence to go up and give a goddamn presentation, and Bill can do a walk on, or a cameo.

Dude, Bill Gates' keynote highlights what he sees as being the driving technologies of the upcoming years, 2006 was HD everything. What he has to say is relevant to the industry as a whole. No, it's not ground breaking new flashy stuff, and it's not about him putting on a show. It's about him presenting an honest perspective of what technologies will be shaping the future.

I think the main thing is Bill just isn't much of a public speaker-and its not really fair to expect him to be. Look at Apple, Woz handled tech and Jobs handled PR back in the day. Bill has always had more in common with Woz than with Jobs, and it shows. Doesn't mean the content isn't ever interesting, it often is, but its never presented dramatically for the most part. I think Bill has had enough events go south (see Xbox1 catching fire in 1st Japanese demo for instance) that he prefers to go low key, and its one of the things I do respect about him.

But then, I'm not one of these people who gets hype for SJ. I care about the products he introduces, but if he left tomorrow and Jonathan Ive had to do the presentation and it ended up being a ten minute summary of all the new gear, I'd be just as psyched. I know its better for Apple saleswise that he is such a showman, it just doesn't matter to me personally

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Anonymous wrote:
If I go there, will it be recalled like all the toys?

Eh? What's the difference between a Chinese site and an American site, other than language? What do you have against Chinese sites?

Please refer to the several jailings of internet users in China for full information on the violation of basic human rights when it comes to China and websites.

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macinnerd wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:
If I go there, will it be recalled like all the toys?

Eh? What's the difference between a Chinese site and an American site, other than language? What do you have against Chinese sites?

True, but is that a good reason to reject all websites? Guest's post simply seems to be kind of... zealous.

My seven year old son could have told you that last year was about HD. Who need Gates for that.
May be the guy should have come out and explained to us how he's going to screw up by trying to own new standards, sabotage them or screw the up otherwise. Good thing, too he's going to spend more time with his foundation; hell he owes the world for the crud he' been selling us for years on end.
Good thing he's leaving. Good thing, people start realising he's a clown instead of the guru they thought he was...

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Guest wrote:
My seven year old son could have told you that last year was about HD. Who need Gates for that.
May be the guy should have come out and explained to us how he's going to screw up by trying to own new standards, sabotage them or screw the up otherwise. Good thing, too he's going to spend more time with his foundation; hell he owes the world for the crud he' been selling us for years on end.
Good thing he's leaving. Good thing, people start realising he's a clown instead of the guru they thought he was...

Why don't you send an email to the Consumer Electronics Association since they're the ones that are responsible for CES and whoever does the Keynote.

I agree with daemon. It was Bill G giving his perspective. It is his opinion, and worth no more or less than anybody else's. No, he is not a dynamic speaker, but not many are.

Give the guy a break.