CES 2010 Wrap-up – Looking to our Future

Intel and Microsoft

Intel

Intel was busy showing off its new Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs.  Their competition simply cannot touch the performance of Intel’s new CPUs.  Intel CEO Paul Otellini expanded on their vision to link Web-based PC applications inside the home. “Computing is no longer confined to your computer, it’s everywhere,” Otellini said during his keynote address on the first day of CES.

The Intel and Microsoft booths were directly next to each other and appeared to share the same designer

Microsoft

During his keynote address at CES, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer laid out details of how his company will transform home entertainment with enhancements to the Xbox 360, a new tablet-style PC, and interfaces that respond to users’ gestures and more. “From the largest screen on the wall to the smallest screens in people’s pockets, we are delivering the entertainment people want,” he said.

Microsoft was all about Windows 7 and simplicity.  However, this editor doesn’t see much difference between Vista and 7 – arguably there was more difference between XP and Windows 2000.  Hopefully, Windows 7 will succeed where Vista failed to become popular, as DX11 does bring more to the table for PC gaming than XP ever will.

Microsoft also showed off its upcoming Office 2010.  If you are interested in testing it out, you can get the beta here:

Microsoft appears to have somewhat ignored PC gaming at CES.  Although Games for Windows Live was mentioned once in their keynote address and MS also demoed Dirt 2 in DX11/3D on some impressive gaming notebooks, their primary emphasis was clearly on the XBox 360.