Bill Gates opened CES, the largest consumer electronics show in the world in Las Vegas at the beginning of January and spoke of the importance of software as an enabler for the next 10 years of digital technology development. Gates stressed that software had to offer simplicity and had to solve problems such as security, privacy, speech and voice recognition. Gates didn’t unveil any new Microsoft offerings but did cover both recently launched products and forthcoming ones such as Internet Explorer 7, and Windows Vista. Gates also did his best to push the latest advances in telephony hardware by demonstrating a Philips cordless telephone that allows phone users to make both traditional phone calls and internet-based calls once the user is logged into MSN Messenger.
Gates also made reference to Intel’s new Viiv technology platform which was the centrepiece launch of the show. Viiv sees Intel shift attention away from the speed and power of a PC being propelled by an Intel processor under the hood, to the idea of Intel processors and wireless modules creating and powering a standardised platform for new methods of digital home entertainment. Intel chief executive Paul Otellini described Viiv as striving to deliver what he called ‘the new normal’. He said “What consumers really want is online content on their big screen in their living room sitting on the couch.” Viiv will lend its name to digital appliances that run, among other things, an Intel dual core processor and 845 chipset. These appliances must also support surround sound, run Intel software and Windows Media Center Edition as their operating system. A Viiv appliance could be a standalone computer, a set-top box for digital TV or video on demand services, or could be built directly into TV so that the set could receive broadband and multimedia content without the need for a standalone PC to be connected to it. In time-honoured Intel marketing tradition, an Viiv appliance will be recognised by a special logo.
Downloading movies over broadband from content providers is a key part of Intel’s vision for these new Viiv-powered digital appliances and alreadythe company has invested in an online movie download service Clickstar. The service, the brainchild of actor Morgan Freeman, will allow users, initially in the US, to purchase movies with media center remotes that come with their Viiv digital appliances. Services such as Clickstar promises to allow Viiv users to download some movies on the same day they are released in the cinema, others will completely skip the cinema channel and be made available exclusively as a download.
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