Final Microsoft keynote
Several years ago, Bill Gates stepped away from leading the day-to-day tasks at Microsoft, leaving Steve Ballmer in charge, who has since delivered the annual Microsoft keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show. Ballmer announced last month that 2012 would be their ifnal keynote address and the last time they populate an enormous booth.
The company said in a statement that its “product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.” Sources note that the Consumer Electronics Association mutually agreed on this being the final keynote, and many suspect that Ballmer will be back on stage eventually.
The video above remixed by artist Pogo was a hit with attendees, as reflected by the surge in social network updates by press and attendees about the video (many people tweeting about “Bing, bing, bing!”).
Going out with a bang and rejecting the status quo, Ballmer and Ryan Seacrest took the stage to deliver the final keynote (which they called a “conversation”). The video and delivery were very popular and in a conference that is easy to be overwhelmed and distracted, Microsoft delivered a hit that will not be soon forgotten (bing, bing, bing!).
Roland Estrada
January 10, 2012 at 3:45 pm
The video is cute. It's difficult to make Microsoft interesting which follows through in the write-ups by tech journalists. Kind of a snooze.
CNET's Jennifer Guevin summed it up well – "But Ballmer primarily rehashed details of a few previously announced projects, such as Windows Phone and Windows 8, and never made any big reveals. One interesting tidbit was the news that Microsoft would be hooking up Kinect and Windows in February. Exactly how that plays out, and what it means for consumers, will be news to look for in the coming months."
Tim Stevens from Engadget did a live blog from the event. He noted when the keynote was over, the lights came up an there was only polite applause. He then overheard someone say "Thank God it was the last year."