BillG keynote

This has been a quintessential part of CES for the past 10 years. 140,000 people will come to the show this year, yet only 4,000 seats are available. In past years, it had been held at a small theater at the Las Vegas Hilton, which holds only 1,500. Just imagine the pandemonium that usually ensues. Back then, you had to be in line for 4 hrs in order to be guaranteed entry, latecomers would be redirected to ballrooms with live simulcasts on large projected screens.

I got lucky this year, got to the venue 1.5 hrs prior to start and still managed to get in. (I could have been there earlier, but I had to drive all the way back to my room to fetch my camera.)

This has been a tradition that has taken place on the evening before the start of the show. Now that the four day show is starting on Monday (it used to start on Thursdays,) you have to prepare to spend a good part of Sunday waiting in line.

Over the past decade, Microsoft's keynotes have been incredibly fun. Past guests and co-hosts have been Jay Leno, Conan O'Brian, Justin Timerlake, The Rock (who helped kick off the first XBOX.) My favorite moments are when they show parody videos, starring BillG and Ballmer themselves. It is quite amazing to see the two engage in self-depracating humor. They have had themes with Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Judge Judy. My favorite was with BillG dressed up as Austin Powers (in full costume) and started dancing with the go-go girls in the background. He also delivered the line: "I put the SIN in SYNTAX, baby..." I was LMAO...

Unfortunately, Microsoft never releases these videos to the public. (try searching YouTUBE.)

BillG hinted that he may not be doing future keynotes at CES, unless they wanted him to talk about diseases/vaccinations. This is definitely a reference to his impending "retirement."

This was by far, the smoothest Microsoft keynote performance, ever. HD camera systems, and flawless demos along with slick presentation slides and videos. Not a BSOD in sight.

You can watch most of the keynote here:
http://microsoftatces.com/archive/2007/01/07/2007-international-ces-keynote.aspx

ps - they didn't announce a ver 2.0 of the Xbox360. That was a total rumor.