Readers might recall me taking a pass on Mix06 doubting that it would be worth it. Was I wrong? Right? Let’s follow along with what’s happening so far as the first day of the event (March 20-22 in Las Vegas) is in the bag and day #2 is just getting started.

Virtual MIX is trying to pull it all together. Watch the live webcast here (starting at 9am PST)

Bill Gates Keynote
Video (Windows Media format) of the keynote.
- started with tongue-in-cheek mention of YouTube listing for Bill Gates which has the famous pie in the face video, Bill Gates running like a girl, Gates celebrity deathmatch and others.
- using software to create a new customer experience. Enhancing the experience in the browser and going beyond the browser. Gates described the “next generation browser” explaining they are hard at work on Internet Explorer 7. He points to three key areas: streamlined user interface, security and RSS
- new release of IE 7 beta preview now available — DOWNLOAD HERE — as well as a compatibility center. Gates feels this will be “very heavily used.” Boy, what a contrast this all is to the day when Microsoft claimed IE wouldn’t be updated until Vista was released. Gates describes this change as “doing a mea culpa.” I’ve downloaded and will be reviewing IE7 beta preview in a separate post, but this was the biggest Microsoft release of the first day. Related from February 1: Hmm review of IE7 Beta 2 preview
- Xbox360 as Media Center hub (nothing new)
- Gates referred to the coming soon UMPC as the “lowend Tablet PC” device and showed the Samsung model (pictured above).
- Gates gives the stage to MySpace with the announcement that they are now the #2 site on the web, passing MSN. I’m sure Microsoft doesn’t mind, since MySpace uses ASP.NET and SQL Server.

Wow. I still don’t really get the attraction to this site but it must be generational because the younger folks are really digging MySpace. I have to spend some more time checking out what’s going on there and seeing what I’m missing. And I still have zero friends on there (sniff, sniff)

- Next, Ashley Highfield from the BBC stops in to talk about how the BBC is being changed by user’s needs. Distribution costs are falling dramatically on the web. And the really exciting nugget: how the BBC will be using Vista to integrate into the desktop using Atlas (pictured below)

This could be a key role move by Microsoft if they get people to blend in content to the desktop a la Microsoft Gadgets. They’ve been saying for some time that (most?) Live.com gadgets will run on the desktop as well as in the browser. Security definitely has to be a consideration here but things like what the BBC showed are impressive.

Bill Gates and Tim O’Reilly chatting on stage
Video (Windows Media format) of the discussion.

- O’Reilly explores where Microsoft will fit into this interent as an operating system world. Gates replies: “we are going to cover the wide spectrum.” Gates describes the Windows-tiein as an “integration benefit” when it comes to gadgets. This is true with Dashboard Widgets on Macs so I can see what he means. For example, I’m thinking about tablet/ink integration, especially with the UMPC making the cost barrier lower.

I found this discussion a little more probing and useful than Gates keynote. O’Reilly fired off some good questions but didn’t follow up as much on the answers as he could have. Not expecting him to go attack dog on Gates but he could have funneled down on a few of the questions and got more details instead of letting Gates go on an extended keynote. It seemed to me like he had a lot of questions to ask in a very short period of time and was more concerned about getting through his long list of questions than trying to drill down on specific issues.

Listen during the video O’Reilly somewhat tiredly respond “right, right” when Gates goes into keynote speech mode. Unfortunateley the audience was only allowed to ask five questions. The keynote would have been better if the audience and Tim O’Reilly asked more questions rather than let Gates speak freeform.

- GM of the IE team, Dean, comes out on stage and says: “We messed up … now, we get it.” The IE team leader is certainly saying all the right things, echoing Gates concerns. IE7 needs to be agile and coming out with updates more frequently, but do they need to do it as often as Firefox?

An exclusive, secret steak lunch with Bill Gates
Starting to get the feeling like it was the Bill Gates tour? Albert Lai, Michael Arrington, Robert Scoble and Lynda Weinman got to sit with the world’s richest man. Albert notes that Gates isn’t fond of ghost blogging, so we won’t be seeing a fake Gates penned blog any time soon.

Scoble figuratively reaches for Gate’s checkbook and is denied like Shaq slapping back the rock from some mortal with no business on the court:

I asked Bill about when he was gonna give people at the edges of his company the ability to purchase fun companies like the ones Michael sees. He answered that there are some things that probably should always require approval. Actually he gave a good explanation of what he sees as good acquisitions and bad and why acquisitions need to apply to a strategic direction of a company and shouldn’t be done without executive oversight.

Arrington titles a matter of fact post: So I had lunch with Bill Gates today:

I asked a few questions, specifically about what Microsoft’s plans are around an online version of Office. Bill responded at length without really giving an answer. He did say that he thought people were too infatuated with the thought of an online version of Office, but that they were really focused on the idea of cloud storage for office files.

After lunch
I’m still pouring through the content after lunch from Mix06, so I’ll either come back to this entry or add another. One thing struck me: it wasn’t neccessary to attend Mix06. Pretty much you can sit in your office and pour through the blogs and videos and aggregators and draw your own opinions. The face to face interaction and networking aside, attending the current crop of conferences is having its value reduced by all this coverage. It’s a catch 22. You don’t provide WiFi and live blogging then attendees feel cheated. Don’t provide a live web stream and those who couldn’t get tickets to the event are pissed. You do provide all this and everything is blogged so that very little of the conference isn’t out on the web almost simultaneously.

The primary value is networking and meeting face to face people like Bill Gates — maybe. Except only a handful of people actually got to meet Bill Gates so it was like a $995 backstage pass where the roadies are the primary audience.

Interested parties can cook their own steak lunch, fire up the browser and spend a couple hours without the whole plane trip and Vegas distractions and expense. Worth $995? Not so far from what I’ve seen. It’s not over yet, so for those who are at Mix06, please use the comments and tell the rest of us not there what’s worth $995 there?

In the meantime I’ll keep wondering why they didn’t make this whole conference virtual? I really have to wonder if that’s where the future of offline conferences are going. Think we’ll keep saving our pennies for all the Vista licenses we’ll need to buy later this year.

Did this post make you go hmm?

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