| Sumario: | This article discusses Microsoft Corp. chief executive officer Bill Gates and the speech he delivered at Comdex, an annual computer-industry trade show. Much has changed since Bill Gates made his first keynote speech at Comdex in 1983. Back then his firm was touting a now-forgotten spreadsheet called Multiplan and had just announced plans for a new program called Windows. Windows, just a prototype in 1983, is now the dominant personal-computer (PC) operating system, having seen off a host of rivals. Microsoft has become the world's largest software firm, and Mr. Gates the world's richest man. The shift in the technology industry's centre of gravity is away from PCs towards sexier consumer-electronics devices such as mobile phones, games consoles, digital-video recorders and flat-panel TVs. Microsoft faces the same challenge: its dominance in PC operating systems and office productivity software leaves little scope for growth, forcing it to look to new consumer markets. Microsoft has far less clout in the world of consumer electronics. Its smartphone software has been slow to gain adoption, its Xbox game console lags far behind the Sony's PlayStation 2 and its software for TV set-top boxes failed to gain much traction.
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