Microsoft have a lengthy and varied history of CES keynotes, a fact that they were quick to point out at the start with some emphatic rhetoric. This year marks the final keynote speach at CES for Microsoft, a fact that doesn’t quite seem to have made it to the ears of the higher ups at CES. There were a few weird moments toward the start with a representative toutings Microsoft’s return in 2013 or beyond, a sentiment not reiterated by any of the Microsoft speakers.
I’m not sure what’s in the Las Vegas water at the moment but there’s an overwhelming sense of weirdness from the major keynotes this year. Putting the oddities of Sony’s conference aside, Microsoft opened with an homage to the last 15 years of keynote’s with this rather weird and off the wall video.
After being greeted by an auto-tuned version of Microsoft’s past we were introduced to one of our hosts for the next hour and a half. Any normal day I’d say Ryan Seacrest was an odd choice but today it was one of the more normal aspects.
For all it’s strange moments and weird decision making the conference kept itself coherent with one main theme -Metro. Regardless of the hardware being focused on Microsoft where always keen to remind us of the inter-connected nature of the new Metro design.
The conference really kicked off with a demonstration of the capabilities of the Windows Phone 7 software on varying pieces of hardware. It served as a good demonstration to those unfamiliar with what the OS can do but it didn’t really bring anything new to the table. The only real information that could be gleamed from this section is the announcement that the Lumia 710, 800 and 900 are making their way to the US Market. Special attention should be paid to the announcement that the Nokia Lumia 900 and HTC Titan II will be coming to AT&T on the new 4G LTE network.
Moving on from singing the phrases they quickly shifted onto an extended demonstration of the soon to be released Windows 8. Again they took this opportunity to really reinforce the virtues of Metro, especially the way some of the newer features that Windows 8 will bring.
Aesthetically Windows 8 is sleek and really blends well with the Metro design of the Wp7 and the new Xbox Dashboard. The lock screen and picture password functions were an especially welcome surprise. The lock screen makes good use of some of the more recent processing tricks to keep emails and IM’s constantly updated so you can see what you’ve missed at a glance.
On the whole Windows 8 looks like a real innovation in terms of standard operating systems but I have reservations about the layout. It sticks very strongly to the formula that other devices are using, this brings consistency but may not be the best design for a computer desktop. I’m sure this is just hesitance to change but the overhaul may take some getting used to.
Accompanying the demo of Microsoft’s new OS we saw some of the more recent hardware to come out in support of Windows 7 and 8. The range of laptops and tablets coming out really boast some fantastic designs and impressive features, the downside being they’ll probably be carrying a hefty price tag to go along with them.
Just jumping back to Windows 8 for a minute, while the overall design leaves me skeptical the new software features leave a more pleasant taste. The newly designed web browser in particular looks to shake off the poor reputation that Internet Explorer has gained in recent years. Windows 8 insistence to use full screen for every app and every function really draws the attention to what you’re doing, couple this with the improved ‘snap’ functionality we saw in Windows 7 that now features optimized viewing and the end result is miraculously simple.
Between the PC section and any further announcements we were treated to this eclectic delight, in a night filled with many strange delights this was fairly simple to get on board with. Still, it was odd.
The final 20 minutes of the conference focused on the Xbox 360 and were honestly a little disappointing. There’s been much speculation around what might or might not get announced this year and even though I wasn’t expecting them to wheel out a 720 the 10 minutes spent showing off Decembers Dashboard update seemed redundant. The demonstration of the soon to be released interactive Sesame Street Kinect-based show was a mild improvement but was heavily marred with the usual jarring child acting.
Throw in a 2 minute cut of the livestream as to not break intellectual copyrights and you have something that really didn’t impress. As I said, I wasn’t expecting a new console reveal but the almost pointless demonstration of currently available tech seemed a poor choice. The only saving grace came in the form of Microsoft’s announcement that Kinect will officially becoming to Windows PCs as of February 2nd.
To close the conference Ryan Seacrest asked a question that’s on all of our minds; “What’s next for Microsoft?”. Steve Balmer’s answer may have been emphatic, but entirely expected.
“Metro! Metro! Metro!”
The theme carried heavily throughout Microsoft’s final keynote was that of Metro, extolling it’s virtues as only Microsoft can do. All in all i can’t help but feeling a little let-down – their was certainly a wealth of content but for a final keynote their wasn’t nearly enough.
