[typoon]

http://www.canada.com/news/story.htm...4-ff4a1ef5d39b

NEWS STORY

Microsoft's Gates endures PC crash during keynote speech at U.S. tech show

Rachel Konrad

Canadian Press

January 6, 2005

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Despite suffering through an embarrassing computer crash that prompted jokes and guffaws, Bill Gates promised that Microsoft Corp. would help consumers stay plugged into technology, during a keynote speech Wednesday.


In his seventh annual keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft's chairman explained that the proliferation of high-speed Internet access and the falling price of data storage are compelling people to put music, photos, movies and other aspects of their life into a digital format.


"We predicted at the beginning of this decade that this would be a decade where the digital approach would be taken for granted," Gates told hundreds of technology enthusiasts, who gathered for his kickoff to the world's largest electronics show. "It's going even faster than we expected."


But while promoting what he calls the "digital lifestyle," Gates showed how vulnerable all consumers - even the world's richest man - are to hardware and software bugs.


During a demonstration of digital photography with a soon-to-be-released Nikon camera, a Windows Media Center PC froze and wouldn't respond to Gates' pushing of the remote control.


Later in the 90-minute presentation, a product manager demonstrated the ostensible user-friendliness of a video game expected to hit retail stores in April, Forza Motor Sport. But instead of configuring a custom-designed race car, the computer monitor displayed the dreaded "blue screen of death" and warned, "out of system memory."


The errors - which came during what's usually an ode to Microsoft's dominance of the software industry and its increasing control of consumer electronics - prompted the celebrity host, NBC comedian Conan O'Brien, to quip, "Who's in charge of Microsoft, anyway?"


Gates, who was sitting next to O'Brien on a set staged to look like NBC's Late Night set, smiled dryly and continued with his discussion.

[pliny]

If they cant even get these things to work right during the high profile presentations by the owner, what do people think will happen when they use these products at home?

They can talk about speed and price all they want but do these things WORK?

[MacGorilla]

Originally posted by pliny:
If they cant even get these things to work right during the high profile presentations by the owner, what do people think will happen when they use these products at home?

They can talk about speed and price all they want but do these things WORK?

There is also the fact that consumers prefer many discreet devices for their media needs rather than one honkin' mass like the Media Center PC.

[hardcat1970]

did anyone capture that movie stream?

[willed]

Originally posted by typoon:

But while promoting what he calls the "digital lifestyle," Gates showed ...

Hey, wasn't there some other guy who talked about this sort of thing a few YEARS ago... Steve Jobs perhaps? Good to see MS has got it all working seamlessly!

[typoon]

Originally posted by willed:
Hey, wasn't there some other guy who talked about this sort of thing a few YEARS ago... Steve Jobs perhaps? Good to see MS has got it all working seamlessly!

Yes but you see it's irrelevant because it wasn't Bill Gates or Microsoft. Now that he's said it EVERYONE will be.

[PB2K]

Is the Windows media center codenamed "athens" ?
That machine is awful !

[typoon]

Originally posted by PB2K:
Is the Windows media center codenamed "athens" ?
That machine is awful !

I think it's codenamed "YUGO"

[AB^2=BCxAC]

Demoing unfinshed ANYTHING is tough to do... but a stupid practice. Either make a fake presentation or a movie, but don't risk something that hasn't been tested up the wazoo in front of thousands of people (unless you're Evil Kneival).

Anyone remember Steve Jobs throwing a digital camera off stage in disgust because the batteries weren't charged?

It always happens to the best of us, no matter what. Look at the Mars Lander missions!

[wdlove]

Originally posted by pliny:
If they cant even get these things to work right during the high profile presentations by the owner, what do people think will happen when they use these products at home?

They can talk about speed and price all they want but do these things WORK?

Although how many actual Windows customers will actually know about the crash?

[typoon]

Originally posted by AB^2=BCxAC:
Demoing unfinshed ANYTHING is tough to do... but a stupid practice. Either make a fake presentation or a movie, but don't risk something that hasn't been tested up the wazoo in front of thousands of people (unless you're Evil Kneival).

Anyone remember Steve Jobs throwing a digital camera off stage in disgust because the batteries weren't charged?

It always happens to the best of us, no matter what. Look at the Mars Lander missions!

While that is true the Mac OS X demos have been doing pretty well when Jobs shows them. Also recently his Demos and Stuff seem to be working well. Not anything major that I remember recently.

[driven]

Murphy's law of demos. It will only break when you are demonstrating it to a large group of people.

[Sherwin]

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by pliny:
If they cant even get these things to work right during the high profile presentations by the owner, what do people think will happen when they use these products at home?

well don't get too cheeky, Steve has had his share of problems with demos also.

[pliny]

I don't recall an Apple Computer crashing twice during a demo of a new system designed to streamline use...do you?

[Skip Breakfast]

Reminds me of that commercial: "Check your autoexec.bat!"

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by pliny:
I don't recall an Apple Computer crashing twice during a demo of a new system designed to streamline use...do you?

Twice in one show? I dunno, but remember when steve through the camera at his tech?

Or was it a remote that didn't work?

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
but remember when steve through the camera at his tech?

Mwahaha ! That spello made me lawl...
Is that Canadian spelling ?

-t

[Big Mac]

It is truly appalling that Gates would be credited with the term digital lifestyle. He also pioneered the graphical user interface, don't ya know.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Big Mac:
It is truly appalling that Gates would be credited with the term digital lifestyle. He also pioneered the graphical user interface, don't ya know.

Hey, at least he could be credited for inventing the digital crashstyle...

-t

[TubaMuffins]

i thought i also noticed that conan's screen when he and bill were racing was having trouble. it looked it was having some slow down (no i dont mean because of conans driving skill). here's the feed: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=1797705

[mdc]

Originally posted by TubaMuffins:
i thought i also noticed that conan's screen when he and bill were racing was having trouble. it looked it was having some slow down (no i dont mean because of conans driving skill). here's the feed: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=1797705

i'm glad i'm not the only one who noticed this.
i mentioned it in this post.

"was it just me or did conan's game die? at the end of when he was play against bill. he was in a wall for most of the race and then rectified himself and then it just did not seem to be going anywhere and going at about 2fps. maybe i was still laughing inside from the previous bluescreen."

[willed]

Originally posted by wdlove:
Although how many actual Windows customers will actually know about the crash?

The BBC coverage of Gates didn't even mention any crashes. I think two in one demo is newsworthy!

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by turtle777:
Mwahaha ! That spello made me lawl...
Is that Canadian spelling ?

-t

Through, threw. Tomato ....

[macintologist]

Um, didn't OS X crash during MWSF 2000 when Phil Schiller was loading Quake 3? I know because I was there. It happens to the best of us.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by macintologist:
Um, didn't OS X crash during MWSF 2000 when Phil Schiller was loading Quake 3? I know because I was there. It happens to the best of us.

I blame it on the Windoze code fragments in Quacke 3 !

-t

Originally posted by turtle777:
Mwahaha ! That spello made me lawl...
Is that Canadian spelling ?

No. He made a mistake.

I'm pretty sure the USA use of through is the same as Canada - although some seem intent on changing it to "thru" which means something else.

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by hayesk:
No. He made a mistake.

I'm pretty sure the USA use of through is the same as Canada - although some seem intent on changing it to "thru" which means something else.

They use "thru" for road signs because "through" is too long, apparently.

Of course, those same people changed "Bump" to "Undulations."

[Apple Pro Underwear]

we use "thru" in our advertising copy all the time

it does save space. i believe our editor said it is according to the chicago style manual.

[osxpinot]

Gates also called people who are not in favor of DRM communists. How could this be? In reality, the situation is quite the opposite.

I'm opposed to DRM because I'm against BIG GOVERNMENT. Who wants somebody to be able to know what songs you listen to and what DVD's you watch?

[Wiskedjak]

I was in a presentation of FinalCut Pro HD on a Dual 2 Powermac with 4 Gigs of RAM. Right when the presenter got to the point where he was talking about how rock solid FinalCut and MacOS were ... kernel panic

[spacefreak]

Originally posted by macintologist:
Um, didn't OS X crash during MWSF 2000 when Phil Schiller was loading Quake 3? I know because I was there. It happens to the best of us.

Not only that, but Steve Jobs' camera froze up when connected to iPhoto during a demonstration at a past MacWorld a few years ago. The look on his face was priceless.

Of course, most here have a selective memory and only remember MS mishaps. Apple mishaps are conveniently ignored.

[pliny]

The 2000 thing with Schiller wasn't even a beta of OS X, it was a pre- developer preview 3 of OS X, that's how early the version was!

[turtle777]

Originally posted by hayesk:
No. He made a mistake.

I'm pretty sure the USA use of through is the same as Canada - although some seem intent on changing it to "thru" which means something else.

Ok, I'm not exactly sure if you are joking or if you are serious.

Through = Thru BUT NOT = Threw !

-t

[Mr Heliums]

Originally posted by spacefreak:
Not only that, but Steve Jobs' camera froze up when connected to iPhoto during a demonstration at a past MacWorld a few years ago. The look on his face was priceless.

Of course, most here have a selective memory and only remember MS mishaps. Apple mishaps are conveniently ignored.

How does a camera not working have anything to do with Apple products?

Originally posted by turtle777:
Ok, I'm not exactly sure if you are joking or if you are serious.

Through = Thru BUT NOT = Threw !

What I have learned is that "through" is not the same as "thru".

Thru is used for expressing an inclusive range. 3 thru 6 means 3, 4, 5, and 6.

It does not mean to go from one place to another passing into and out of something.

"I drove through a rain storm" is correct.
"I drove thru a rain storm" is not.

Of course, I could be wrong and/or it could be a regional thing.

[pliny]

Yeah, wasn't the camera thing because of a messed up battery?

Maybe the point is that this snafu was an abberation since Windows software always works purrrrfectly.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by macintologist:
Um, didn't OS X crash during MWSF 2000 when Phil Schiller was loading Quake 3? I know because I was there. It happens to the best of us.

The main difference was, Phil was running a beta of OS X. OS X (10.0) wasn't released until March 24, 2001.

Gates was showing a shipping equipment.

SIDE NOTE: For those of you that watched the Microsoft/Gates presentation... didn't you think it was awful? You know it's a mess when you feel bad for the presenters for having so many technical difficulties. I've seen complete amateurs give better demos/presentations. I couldn't count the "Ummm, we will have to show that to you in a little bit..." and "ummm, seems like we are having technical difficulties"...

It just goes to show you how polished Steve is. He is also smart enough to have a backup system and plan.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by spacefreak:
Not only that, but Steve Jobs' camera froze up when connected to iPhoto during a demonstration at a past MacWorld a few years ago. The look on his face was priceless.

Of course, most here have a selective memory and only remember MS mishaps. Apple mishaps are conveniently ignored.

Did you watch the presentation video? It looked like Gates/M$ had never given a presentation. The Jobs' camera freeze was one incident. there were numerous glitches with the Gates/M$ presentation. Almost to the point where it was embarrassing.

[Eriamjh]

Is this a real commercial?

http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/...owdcontrol.mov

[gerbnl]

Originally posted by TubaMuffins:
i thought i also noticed that conan's screen when he and bill were racing was having trouble. it looked it was having some slow down (no i dont mean because of conans driving skill). here's the feed: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=1797705

It only play's 'please stand by' for at least 24 hours now. Yesterday the MS site cheered and announced that people could see the keynote, when i came home their site changed to "later today" (and the link disappeared from their homepage, and now it changed again to "the highlights will be available shortly"

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/ces2005/default.mspx

anyone have a linky to the real thing?

[Mafia]

Originally posted by gerbnl:
It only play's 'please stand by' for at least 24 hours now. Yesterday the MS site cheered and announced that people could see the keynote, when i came home their site changed to "later today" (and the link disappeared from their homepage, and now it changed again to "the highlights will be available shortly"

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/ces2005/default.mspx

anyone have a linky to the real thing?

i saw it on techtv(g4 bs) last nite. i'll look for a torrent link or what not.

[IFLY2HIGH]

Originally posted by typoon:
[url]In his seventh annual keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft's chairman explained that the proliferation of high-speed Internet access and the falling price of data storage are compelling people to put music, photos, movies and other aspects of their life into a digital format.


"We predicted at the beginning of this decade that this would be a decade where the digital approach would be taken for granted," Gates told hundreds of technology enthusiasts, who gathered for his kickoff to the world's largest electronics show. "It's going even faster than we expected."

How many years have we been doing this already, they are really behind...

[CharlesS]

The Jobs camera incident was due to the batteries in the camera being dead. I fail to see how that error could be the fault of iPhoto or the Mac or anything that Jobs was trying to demo.

Blue screens of death, OTOH, are definitely a Windows problem.

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by TubaMuffins:
i thought i also noticed that conan's screen when he and bill were racing was having trouble. it looked it was having some slow down (no i dont mean because of conans driving skill). here's the feed: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=1797705

That page looks just like old chinese communist propaganda posters.

[Drakino]

During the initial iBook demo, there were some problems. One machine wouldn't load the Quicktime stream of the keynote. Another took forever to wake up from sleep and also didn't load any sites until he closed the browser and reopened it.

So Apple has had more then a camera and Quake 3 incident. I'd have to watch the other keynotes I have archived to look for other issues.

Not every demo will be flawless, including those done by Apple on final hardware and software.

[amsalpemkcus]

Originally posted by Drakino:

yadi yadi yada......

Not every demo will be flawless, including those done by Apple on final hardware and software

Next time say something I don't know!!!!

[macintologist]

Originally posted by Eriamjh:
Is this a real commercial?

http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/...owdcontrol.mov

It's an old Apple ad from the 90s, pre-Jobs era.

[lngtones]

Originally posted by osxpinot:
Gates also called people who are not in favor of DRM communists. How could this be? In reality, the situation is quite the opposite.

I'm opposed to DRM because I'm against BIG GOVERNMENT. Who wants somebody to be able to know what songs you listen to and what DVD's you watch?

I don't think he said that about DRM. I think it was more about the whole Open Source and everything should be free and lets hug some trees movement.

Before you flame, I realize not all open source is about that and I don't have a problem with open source, but you can't deny there's a huge number of people that think open source also equals free.

[MacmanX]

To be fair to Steve, I think he threw the camera to the guy, not at him.

Anyway, these screw ups happen all the time. That's part of the sport of watching keynotes. But, it's always funnier when it happens to Gates. The guy is, frankly, about as laid back as a flagpole. I guess he never made it to a public speaking class in school.