Opening Comdex, Gates says 'digital decade' still on track

LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Innovation continues despite the high-tech industry's downturn, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates said Sunday as he unveiled a strategy to push ``smart'' computing technology

Monday, November 18th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Innovation continues despite the high-tech industry's downturn, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates said Sunday as he unveiled a strategy to push ``smart'' computing technology into everyday gadgets such as alarm clocks and pens.

Gates, who opened the 23rd annual Comdex trade show, said there was a negative perception of high tech following the collapse of the tech bubble more than two years ago.

``Even though we're in an economic downturn, we're in an innovation upturn,'' he said. ``I believe people are dramatically underestimating all the innovation going on in our industry.''

Gates said the industry is moving away from focusing on personal computers and moving toward a world of personal computing _ where portable and everyday gadgets can perform tasks typically run on full-powered systems.

Smart Personal Objects Technology, or SPOT, would empower everyday devices to draw on the Internet. A travel alarm clock, for instance, would automatically detect its time zone and set itself accordingly. It also could pull up news, weather and other local information. The ``smart'' pen also would pull content from the Internet.

Such products are expected to be available within a year; prices were not announced.

Gates also showed off portable, cordless monitors that could be used in the wireless networks that are increasingly popping up in homes.

Smart Displays, which would start at $999, are flat-panel monitors that detach from a desktop and can be moved across the room. Like the Tablet PCs released earlier this month, their screens can be used as a writing surface.

But unlike the tablets, Smart Displays would not be stand-alone computers. They would store data on and use the computing power of a regular desktop computer running Windows XP Professional.

In another announcement, Microsoft said it will release a new Office productivity suite program called OneNote. It allows users not only to take notes on the fly with a Tablet PC or desktop but also rearrange them and embed them with other information. Gates did not disclose pricing details, though the product is expected to be available in mid-2003.

This year, Microsoft increased its research and development budget 15 percent to $5 billion. Still, the software giant has an advantage in that it dominates its markets, has $40 billion in cash and can afford to gamble in untested technologies.

The Comdex trade show, like much of the tech industry, is shrinking. The number of exhibitors is expected to be about 1,000, down from the more than 1,600 who showed up in 2001.