Microsoft Changing the “Game” in 2010

Today’s CES Keynote presentation by Steve Ballmer really got me excited about where technology is headed. It was the second time Steve Ballmer was taking the stage to deliver the traditional Microsoft CES Keynote Address since Bill Gates stepped down from the role. Although things started slightly late due to a power outage, once the show was in full swing, I was glued to my seat.

Slate Devices

Traditional PC’s have been the ugly boxes you hide in a corner somewhere, and don’t want to display to people on purpose.  Over the years cases have gotten better, sizes have gotten smaller, lights have been added, but overall they have stayed the same.  Microsoft tried to push the envelope years ago with Tablet PC’s, but the hardware just wasn’t there yet. It looks like in 2010, Slate Devices are going to come fast and furious.  Check out this beautiful demonstration of HP’s Windows 7 powered Slate Device that was shown today:

In fact, Microsoft next month is planning on unveiling its own slate device, the Microsoft Courier.  The reason I love these devices is they have all the power of Windows 7, in a smaller form.  If I could carry around a mobile device, and a Slate PC that ran Windows 7, I probably wouldn’t need a laptop.  Check out the Microsoft Courier in this video:

Microsoft Project Natal

The reason I am so pumped about Project Natal is because it’s a total game changer.  It will forever change the way we interact with computers.  This means the way we interact with our Televisions, our games, movies, even telephones.  Everything is about to change.  If you listened closely to Robbie Bach, he explained that Microsoft literally hired rocket scientists to develop Natal, and they have been working on this for nearly 10 years.  I can’t even begin to explain how many ripple effects this kind of innovation and technology is going to have on technology.  Combine Natal with touch computing, the speak recognition research Microsoft has been doing for years, and all the devices that run Microsoft software in your life, and you have an extremely powerful game changing, life altering ecosystem of technology at your fingertips.  Check out this video of Project Natal in action:

Natal leaves everything else out there in the dust.  Sure there will be clones that come out after Natal’s launch, but nothing will be as unique as Natal and work as well.  What the iPhone did for mobile devices, Project Natal will do for interaction and user interfaces.  It will leave every company out there trying to either partner with Microsoft to make games for the XBOX 360, or use Natal’s patented technologies embedded on their televisions, blue-ray players, or other devices that want to kill remotes.

These were the two big announcements of the Microsoft CES Keynote this year and what got me extremely excited as a software developer and technology professional. I can’t wait to see the kind of tools we are going to be using to develop the software and the games that will be played and used on these new devices, and manipulated with these new Natural User Interface technologies.

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