'83 Comdex saw future through Windows

Parachute pants were the rage, a new pop-music star named Madonna was climbing the charts and the computer world was abuzz about a technology that, as The Wall Street Journal explained to its readers, involved "splitting a computer screen into separate sections or 'windows' that allow users to juggle several computer jobs simultaneously."

The year was 1983, and a 28-year-old software mogul named William Gates was invited to make his first keynote address at Comdex, the computer industry trade show. His father ran the slide projector as Gates spoke about such innovations as the computer mouse, which he predicted would become a standard tool for computer users.

"The only thing I worried about was the condensation on the slides, whether they would dry out properly or not," Gates recalled in a speech at the convention years later.

In the 20 years since, the Microsoft chairman's annual Comdex keynote has become perhaps the closest thing the computer industry has to a state-of-the-union address, in which Gates talks about his company's new products and the general directions he sees technology heading.

His speech last night at the Aladdin Theater in Las Vegas focused on the concept of seamless computing, the idea of creating new connections among pieces of information otherwise isolated in different programs and devices. Sessions at Comdex this year include a track devoted to open-source software, such as Linux, which Microsoft has publicly identified as a competitive threat.

Twenty years ago, Gates used his speech in part to follow up on the company's announcement that it would bring to market its own "windowing" application, Windows 1.0. Gates and other Microsoft executives had attended Comdex previously, but 1983 marked the first time he was included among the conference's keynote speakers.

It was, in many ways, an acknowledgement of the company's emergence as a force in the technology world.

One of Microsoft's main competitors at the time was VisiCorp, which sold its own windowing interface for IBM-compatible PCs, called VisiOn. Another competitor, a company called Quarterdeck, also was selling its own windowing program, DesqView, designed to let many pre-existing programs operate in a windows environment without revision.

"It's clear that a fierce battle is shaping up," The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. "But even if computer experts' high expectations for windowing are fulfilled, most expect only one or two companies to emerge victorious from the fight."

It was a good prediction. Versions of Microsoft Windows for desktop PCs brought in nearly $10.4 billion in the company's most recent fiscal year, with more than 90 percent market share.

THROUGH THE YEARS

Microsoft traditionally uses the Comdex convention to highlight upcoming products and trends. Here are a few key moments :

1983: Following up on Microsoft's announcement that it would bring Microsoft Windows to market, Bill Gates gives his first Comdex keynote address, on the subject of "software ergonomics."

1990: In his Comdex keynote, Gates unveils his "grand vision of the future of personal computing, an era in which desktop and hand-held machines will provide a window to vast amounts of information," as The Associated Press put it at the time.

1991: Computer makers at Comdex unveil portable PCs controlled by writing on their screens, predecessors of today's Tablet PC.

1994: Microsoft says it will launch a new online service, the Microsoft Network, when it begins selling Windows 95 the next year. It's known today as MSN.

1995: "The ultimate goal is to empower people," Gates says during his keynote. "Small-business people will be able to connect to the online world on an equal basis to the bigger guys."

1998: Companies involved in the open-source Linux operating system are numerous enough to warrant their own Comdex pavilion.

1999: Gates foreshadows the company's .Net strategy by describing an Internet of easily exchangeable information, rather than separate Web sites.

2001: Gates tells Comdex that innovation will fuel a "digital decade" despite the bursting of the tech bubble.

2002: Gates introduces smart personal object technology, a project to put computer technologies in such devices as alarm clocks and watches.

P-I reporter Todd Bishop can be reached at 206-448-8221 or toddbishop@seattlepi.com

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