By Tim Gray MacNewsWorld Part of the ECT News Network
02/21/07 1:46 PM PT
The whole tech world will be watching when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs appear side by side at a conference later this spring. The leading men of the digital revolution are expected to dazzle the audience with an off-the-cuff discussion of operating systems, home networks, consumer electronics and copyright protection, among a slew of possible topics.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates will share the stage at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference later this year -- making a rare joint public appearance.
Both Jobs and Gates have made several individual appearances at the conference, which marks its fifth anniversary this year.
The two men, who have been central figures in the technology world over the past three decades, are expected to discuss the history and future of the digital revolution during an unrehearsed, unscripted
conversation with "D" coproducers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher on May 30.
Plenty to Talk About
There likely won't be a shortage of topics for the executives to discuss. Both Apple and Microsoft have had an interesting few years, with some huge product launches and increasingly merging product lines.
"They both agree on the concept of working with convergence through consumer electronics," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group.
Jobs will probably take advantage of the opportunity to discuss the home digital hub as the centerpiece of Apple's strategy, and point to the success of its iPod music player and iTunes online store, he suggested.
"Their iPhone efforts are getting closer to convergence -- almost to the point where we can see these devices replacing tuners, receivers [and] DVDs," Enderle told MacNewsWorld.
Jobs will also participate in a separate segment of the conference to discuss recent developments at Apple, including the upcoming iPhone and Apple TV.
Redmond in the House
Microsoft also has been busy on the digital front, launching its "iPod killer" -- the Zune music player -- last fall and pushing multimedia and computing during last month's release of the Vista operating system.
Vista is the most significant operating system since Windows 95 was released more than 11 years ago, the company said. The software giant is also touting Vista as its most secure operating system to date.
Vista is the first major upgrade to the Windows computer operating system since Microsoft released Windows XP in October 2001. Microsoft has invested US$6 billion and written over 50 million lines of code to develop the Vista product.
Hot Topics
Gates will likely welcome the chance to discuss operating systems with Jobs on the heels of Apple's Leopard launch, which is expected to take place in March.
The duo might also delve into Digital Rights Management issues, as both men have expressed concerns that DRM creates a significant bottleneck between consumers and the media they want to consume, said Enderle.
New Products
In the past, Jobs has used the conference to unveil new products, including the AirPort Express Base Station in 2004 and the latest version of iTunes in 2003.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will also appear at the conference to discuss Windows, Office, the Xbox and Zune.
"This should be one for the history books," said Enderle.
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