Amid heavy security, a slumping economy and a declining PC market, Bill Gates tried to make the case to the Comdex masses that technology's best days are yet to come.
Speaking at the opening of Comdex Fall 2001, Gates provided a concrete example with the Tablet PC, which uses a touch screen and a forthcoming version of Windows XP. The device, unveiled as a concept last year, was shown in prototype form Sunday with examples from Compaq Computer, NEC, Toshiba, Intel and others.
One of the devices resembled an Etch A Sketch, while another looked more like a notebook PC with a screen that could be rotated to sit on top of the keyboard. One was small enough to be considered a handheld.
Microsoft also announced the name of the software that powers the Tablet PC: Microsoft Windows XP Tablet Edition. Gates said the company hopes the devices will be commercially available in 2002. "Next year I hope a lot of people in the audience will be taking their notes on a Tablet PC," Gates said.
And just to show that Bill has a lighter side, he shows a video which spoofed Entertainment Tonight (including a duel with Gates as a fictional wizard Harry Potter and Steve Ballmer as Luke Skywalker), as well as scenes from a fictitious Xbox game, "Matrix: The golden years." However, the piece de resistance was Microsoft's own remake of the "Monkey Boy" video in which Ballmer dances wildly to cheer on developers. (If anyone has a link to these proceedings, let us know :) ).
On a side note, Gates also announced that to date, Microsoft have sold 7 million licenses in the first two weeks with retail sales of the software more than two times those for any previous version.
News source: CNet News
View: Microsoft's Bill Gates keynote Speech at Comdex Fall 2001
Video: Comdex Fall 2001 web cast :- 56k or 256k
Speaking at the opening of Comdex Fall 2001, Gates provided a concrete example with the Tablet PC, which uses a touch screen and a forthcoming version of Windows XP. The device, unveiled as a concept last year, was shown in prototype form Sunday with examples from Compaq Computer, NEC, Toshiba, Intel and others.
One of the devices resembled an Etch A Sketch, while another looked more like a notebook PC with a screen that could be rotated to sit on top of the keyboard. One was small enough to be considered a handheld.
Microsoft also announced the name of the software that powers the Tablet PC: Microsoft Windows XP Tablet Edition. Gates said the company hopes the devices will be commercially available in 2002. "Next year I hope a lot of people in the audience will be taking their notes on a Tablet PC," Gates said.
And just to show that Bill has a lighter side, he shows a video which spoofed Entertainment Tonight (including a duel with Gates as a fictional wizard Harry Potter and Steve Ballmer as Luke Skywalker), as well as scenes from a fictitious Xbox game, "Matrix: The golden years." However, the piece de resistance was Microsoft's own remake of the "Monkey Boy" video in which Ballmer dances wildly to cheer on developers. (If anyone has a link to these proceedings, let us know :) ).
On a side note, Gates also announced that to date, Microsoft have sold 7 million licenses in the first two weeks with retail sales of the software more than two times those for any previous version.
News source: CNet News View: Microsoft's Bill Gates keynote Speech at Comdex Fall 2001 Video: Comdex Fall 2001 web cast :- 56k or 256k
Eye witness accounts :-
Source: ABC NewsJackie Power, an eyewitness, said she and her husband were walking their dog on this clear morning in Rockaway when she reported seeing an explosion and flash on the right side of the plane where the wing meets the fuselage, and the the plane just plunged straight down.
"There was what looked liked fire or an explosion and debris fell from that side of the plane and it just plummeted and we heard this enormous crash," she said. "I've never seen anything so terrible."
Another eyewitness said he saw an engine falling off before the plane hit the ground.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told WABC-TV that emergency crews faced two debris fields in Queens, one where the engine apparently fell and one where the rest of the plane fell.
Based on the sketchy details emerging from the crash site, ABCNEWS aviation consultant John Nance said two explanations are possible for the jet's downing. There could have been a loss of control of the aircraft due to an internal explosion for mechanical reasons, or there could have been an explosion of an incendiary device from inside the plane.
"Indeed we have either possibility, we can't go one direction or another at this point," Nance said. "We must wait for the cockpit voice recorder in order to find out what happened."
Aviation experts caution that initial eyewitness accounts of plane crashes are not always accurate.
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