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Just a few moment ago at this year’s CES Expo in Las Vegas, Bill Gates completed his 12th and final CES address before stepping down from his position at Microsoft this July to focus on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates chose to highlight his stepping down from his postion at Microsoft by showing a humorous video, where he took plenty of jabs at himself through comments and short cheesy sketches. 

One sketch included Gates calling Bono during a U2 concert to share his excitement at playing Guitar Hero III, to Bonos extreme annoyance.  Another featured Steven Spileberg w/ Gates dressed up as Wolverine from X-Men.  Other guest cameos included: Matthew McConaughey, Jay-Z, George Clooney, Jon Stewart, Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama and Al Gore.

 The video closed with Gates leving his office on his last day, turning off his office lights with a clapper, and NBC news anchor, Brian Williams, announcing his last day on a mock evening newscast.   

If you missed it, you can catch the video of Bill’s last day as MS HERE. 

On a serious note, I can see how stepping down could be a bit difficult and emotional for Gates.  After all, he’s been working full time at Microsoft since he was 17 years old. 

Next, Gates, with the help of an assistant first briefly dsmonstrated Windows Vista and Windows Live ID, including many of the involved features including: Windows Live Calendar, Windows Live Events, photo sharing and Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Video Search and Windows Live Mobile. 

Gates also briefly demonstrated a surface PC, by using it to design the look for a snowboard paint and decal job.  He also showed how the PC could interface with devices placed on the surface, such as your cell phone. 

After the surface PC, Gates talked about Sliverlight, an animation an video delivery software that was actually a necessary download in order to watch the CES keynote stream. 

Next, a brief video was shown featuring Bob Costas, discussing how MSN and Silverlight will help NBC bring the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics coverage to the web. 

Robbie Bach came out next to discuss ‘connected entertainment’.  He announced that ABC, including Disney, will be bringing their TV shows to the Xbox Live Marketplace.  He also announced that MGM will be bringing their movies to the Marketplace as well. 

Next, Bach briefly discussed the 360′s media extender capabilites, and that Samsung and HP will be introducing new media center extender devices for Windows Media Center PC’s.  In fact, HP’s new MediaSmart TV will have extender capabilities built right in. 

He also announced that British Telecom will be the first to provide service that allows you to use the 360 as a set-top box for your television service.   Making the 360′s promise of IPTV a reality. 

A few numbers he threw out included 17.7 millon 360′s shipped to date and a big Live milestone as the 1 Million member mark reached for Xbox Live membership. 

Next, MS touted and briefly demonstrated their new Ford ‘Sync’ system, which has seen a heavy television advertising push lately.  They also showcased cell phones featuring Windows Mobile and their various capabilities. 

Bach handed things back to Gates who discussed his view on software advances we’ll be seeing in the coming years, featuring a demonstration of a device that allowed Gates to simply point at people or landmarks, which were instantly recognized and notated with relevant information and links to more information. 

Bach next proceeded to challenge Gates to Guitar Hero III.  Each of them brought out a real guitar ‘Hero’ as their ringer, but Gates won by by having Slash as his ringer.  As Gates and Bach bid the audience farewell, Slash played them off. 

I’m not entirely certain what the ‘big anouncement was supposed to be here, but judging from Bach’s enthusiasm when he announced it, I’m guessing its that ABC and MGM are bringing their content to the Xbox Live Marketplace. 

I was expecting a somewhat ‘bigger’ announcement for Gates’ final keynote – and I was expecting him to deliver the news himself rather than let Bach do it for him. 

In any case, the opening keynote is complete, and CES kicks off in full tomorrow.  Watch 360 Rant Rave for continuing coverage regarding any other 360-related announcements. 

Game on!

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