CES 2010: Microsoft's Steve Ballmer opens CES, but does anyone care anymore?
Microsoft’s Chief Exec Steve Ballmer officially opened the CES 2010 show in Vegas last night but failed to impress with a speech that started late due to technical problems (they should have used a Mac) and then went on for far too long.
It seems from the coverage/hype surrounding the Google Nexus 1 and with 3DTVs designed to cash in on the popularity of the film Avatar that the show has been going on for days already. And asking Microsoft to open it – a tradition for several years now – is a bit like asking the nerdy kid to make a speech at the party long after the cool kids have shagged all the girls, trashed the house and buggered off.
The Guardian Technology blog dubbed it the CES ‘Snooze-athon’, The Telegraph said more politely he ‘failed to wow the crowds.’
Of course, it’s not helped that Microsoft didn’t really have too much to show off about. And that Steve Ballmer has all the charisma of a tax inspector from Grimsby. The much-rumoured tablet computer, supposed to be a threat to Apple’s iSlate device, was shown only briefly. And Microsoft were left to unveil a range of touch screen notebooks which many claimed were too large for the pocket, too small for serious work use.
Yes there have been some recent successes, including the critical success of Windows 7 after the disaster that was Vista. And Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, is doing OK. But it seems that Microsoft does desperately need a hit – and need it soon if it’s to compete with the hype surrounding some of its competitors. This year there weren’t any star guests at Microsoft’s launch. Next year there won’t be any guests at all at this rate. Even Bill Gates was more fun and that’s saying something.
