Microsoft CES Keynote 2010: PC on the TV

Normally I skip watching the keynote live due to massive lines and limited viewing but this time we decided to camp out early and ended up on the front row at the keynote.  Just minutes before the keynote was due to start the power died on half the computers on the stage, so after a 20 minute delay the keynote started with Steve Ballmer talking about TV, cloud computing and natural UI.

He then went on to talk about Xbox, Zune marketplace and Windows Mobile. He said more would come out about Windows Mobile later in the month which is likely to be Windows Mobile 7 at Mobile World Congress at the end of January . Next he talked about Windows 7 and its success. There is a 94% satisfaction rate in early adopters which is not surprising. He talked about the range of PC hardware shipping with Windows 7.  They showed off some examples of PCs running Windows 7 including an all in one Sony PC with touch, Netbooks and gaming PCs

The small form factor PCs look great, it was a shame the massive TV with a built in PC was not working due to the power problem before the keynote as it would have made a good demo. Also shown was eBook reader software, I am not sure who the software was from but it looked good

Office 2010 collaboration was shown using Windows Live and Steve and Ryan worked on a PowerPoint presentation at the same time using Windows Live

Media Center was demoed with a CETON HD tuner which can record 4 channels at once via CableCARD. They highlighted the power of a PC connected to a TV which I think is the first time they have talked about the power of connecting a PC to a TV and is something I have been talking about for a while and thankfully they didn’t say “TV on the PC”  which I think is the wrong way round its more about the power of Windows on the PC

Also shown was CBS.com built for Windows Media Center which looked like a nice addin for Media Center. They when went on to talk about being able to use Windows while using Windows Media Center, which got a good round of applause. Next Mediaroom was talked about and v2 of the product, Mediaroom was demoed running directly from Windows Media Center which I think is the first time this has been shown and is something that people have been asking for

The new slate PCs that are coming out in 2010 looked fantastic even though its just Windows 7, including one from HP. The HP unit was a prototype and I think was put out to be a spoiler for Apples tablet announcements

Robby Bach showed off Xbox 360 and a games including Halo Reach which a demo will be made available in the spring for HALO users

Zune video rental was showing running on the Xbox 360 with HD streaming and party mode. Coming spring are old style arcade consoles in a virtual game room running over Xbox live which looks like it could be fun

Robby talked about Natural User Interface and project Natal, he said it would be on sale Christmas 2010 which is the first time a release date has been confirmed. It would have been better if they had a real demo of it running

Overall there was nothing particularly new but it was nice to see the amount of airtime Media Center got. The move away from “TV on the PC” to “TV powered by the PC” is a welcome move and I hope they make some more marketing noise about the power of the PC with TV. I know some people where hoping for new Extender platforms or new versions of Home Server but it was more about showing Windows 7, Zune and Xbox 360 ecosystems and it was great to sit at the front

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