• The New York Times, Tuesday, January 8, 2008 11 AM

Microsoft's big day at CES 2008 may not show substance. Indeed, chairman Bill Gates' keynote was more about his pending departure this summer; there was little in the way of anything new or innovative in the address.

The biggest news was Microsoft's new partnership with Disney, NBC Universal and MGM to bring their TV and movie content to both MSN and the Xbox online marketplace. It might be a nice addition for Microsoft, but it wasn't big news for the studios in question, which already distribute content on other services. Other items revealed by Gates include Microsoft's running the NBC 2008 Olympics site. Videos will be shown using the company's new Silverlight technology, which users have to download.

Then there was Gates "much-repeated" pep talk about the digital future and how Web connectivity will change everything. To the audience of CES, however, such pronouncements are "a monumental snore." Meanwhile, precious little was said about the biggest black mark in the company's business plan: its advertising division.

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