WinHEC 2003 Keynotes

WinHEC (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference) kicked off Tuesday, May 6 in the Big Easy. Attendance at the New Orleans show seemed a bit low, although still strong. The depressed economy was an undercurrent of the keynotes, but thankfully there were, for the first time in a couple of years, references to the light at the end of the tunnel. While nobody was proclaiming the economic slump over, enough is happening in the industry to point to better times ahead.

The conference began with a keynote from Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Bill Gates. He talked about the state of the industry and pointed to areas he felt were and weren't doing well. There was nothing too shocking in his assessment. He feels that the PC industry remains competitive based on its ability to deliver more power while lowering prices and because of hardware and software breakthroughs. He believes the growing popularity of Windows XP has helped as well, saying that the installed base of Windows 9x gets smaller every day, and the replacement OS is almost all Windows XP. A few vendors we talked to confirmed this, saying they now sell more Windows XP-based systems than those with any other Windows version. The holdouts have been corporate buyers who have been sticking with their established OSes, but more and more of them seem to be upgrading to Windows XP. Gates pointed to application support for new hardware as a key area that needs work.

He showed a prototype device code-named Athens, developed by HP and Microsoft. It integrates the PC with communications by combining a PC, a wireless phone, a speaker, and Bluetooth. The device will interface with a corporate PBX, easily becoming a communications center. Athens was nicely packaged, but nothing new—these ideas have been kicking around for years. Intel, under its innovative PC initiative, has shown similar prototypes and ideas at the Intel Developer's Forum. Seeing something under development is progressAthens is more than a hardware design. The ultimate scenario for its use goes something like this: You're in your office working on the PC, logged into e-mail and IM, and playing music (set to a low volume, of course) on your system. A call comes in. The system mutes the music, sets your IM to "On phone call", and brings up the contact information for the caller. It's not done, though. Using information-management software, it finds the recent e-mails you and the caller have exchanged and finds files on your PC that are related to the caller and his company. When you answer the call, all the information is at your fingertips. None of this is brand new technology. In fact, there are already information managers and there is also hardware to integrate phone capabilities. Having it all integrated for you should make the process a whole lot easier, though.

Gates' also made some intriguing references to AMD and the new Opteron chip. When he spoke of 64-bit computing, he frequently referred to AMD and only occasionally to Intel. AMD certainly has made a big splash with Opteron and references from the Microsoft chairman can only help.

Dean Kamen, the founder of DEKA Research & Development Corporation, was next up. This keynote was a bit different for WinHEC diehards. You may know Kamen as the inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, a personal chariot with great balance technology.

Kamen presented, somewhat humorously, what he called the "Rude Realities" of innovation. He pointed out that engineering a new technology is not necessarily innovation, saying that the technology needs to be used properly and in new ways. This is a valid point for the computer industry. "Initiate and embrace change. Every remarkable event begins with a crazy idea and ends with a courageous lunatic," says Kamen.

Kamen closed with a challenge to the engineers and their companies. He is the founder of an organization called FIRST (For Innovation and Recognition of Science and Technology) that inspires high-school kids, through a robotics competition, to get involved in science and technology. Participating high schools have classes in which students build these robots and compete regionally and nationally. The kids get company sponsors and work with engineers from these companies to build the robots. The projects require mechanical, electronic, and programming knowledge. The hook is the competition that's run like a huge sporting event complete with large crowds, loud music, cheering, screaming, trophies, and a lot of fun. The country needs more kids interested in science and technology, and Kamen encouraged attendees to consider getting involved. For more information on FIRST, check out www.usfirst.org.