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Microsoft says 'see ya' to CES (live blog)

At company's last-ever CES keynote, Steve Ballmer recaps features of Windows Phone; Windows 7 and 8; and the Xbox. He also reveals that Kinect is coming to Windows on February 1. And a demo shows how the Xbox and Kinect turn Sesame Street into an interactive experience.

Jay Greene Former Staff Writer
Jay Greene, a CNET senior writer, works from Seattle and focuses on investigations and analysis. He's a former Seattle bureau chief for BusinessWeek and author of the book "Design Is How It Works: How the Smartest Companies Turn Products into Icons" (Penguin/Portfolio).
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Ballmer: In 2012, what's next? Metro Metro Metro. And, of course, Windows Windows Windows. James Martin/CNET

LAS VEGAS--Microsoft has sung its CES swan song.

The company announced plans last month to walk away from the Consumer Electronics Show after a nearly two-decade involvement with the confab and the organization behind it.

That made tonight's keynote address from Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer the beginning of the end. Microsoft didn't make any major announcements (other than the fact that Kinect is coming to Windows on February 1). But then, the company has said the timing of the annual confab doesn't generally align with its product news milestones, and that's the key reason it's bailing on the show.

Microsoft talked up Windows Phone (its mobile phone operating system that's been getting some praise from the tech press), gave a look at some of the upcoming trim ultrabook computers running Windows 7, demoed some previously disclosed features of Windows 8 (which should debut toward the end of 2012), and touted its tile-based Metro interface.

 
In a demo with the Xbox and Kinect, Sesame Street becomes interactive: The girl makes a throwing motion, and Kinect detects it and all of a sudden a coconut gets tossed on the screen into a box Grover is holding. James Martin/CNET

Ballmer and Microsoft also used the forum to discuss the momentum that its Xbox video game console--the top selling console in the United States--continues to gain. One demo dealt with watching TV on the Xbox, and showed how--thanks to some help from the Kinect interface--watching "Sesame Street" could be an interactive experience. The Xbox and Kinect use the console's camera to put viewers into the episode, and to let them interact with things on the screen--as if they were on a virtual playground.

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You can read a summary of the keynote by CNET's Roger Cheng here, and you can check out the full live blog, complete with photos, in the ScribbleLive module below.

Editors' note: The original, barebones version of this story was posted January 8 at 2:55 p.m. PT.