I was confused by all the talk over on Microsoft blogs about "WS this" and "WS that" so I went over and asked the guy, Omri Gazitt, who is the product unit manager on the advanced Web Services team to draw me a picture.

He said that if he and Don Box and the other guys working on Indigo do their jobs properly only a few people in the world will need to understand all this stuff.

Whew, that's good! :-)

Then I asked him "what's the killer app for the Web services platform?" His answers might suprise you. Finally I asked him "what does Microsoft get out of Web Services?" I wonder, has anyone been upfront about our strategies like this before in public?

Sean Alexander was on stage at CES with Bill Gates and writes about what was going on behind the scenes. He explains the problems that were seen on stage.

Update: Mike Hall gives a "behind the booth" report at CES too.

Alright, now all we need is a party report and we'll have a pretty good idea what CES is all about.

I too was trying to figure out Bill Gates "communist" remarks (see Boing Boing, who is having a bit of fun with that meme) but then I saw this article and it all made sense.

Tom Mertens is talking about Microsoft Voice Command. Lets you talk to your PocketPC Phone. Anyone try this out? This sounds like a good addon to the phone.

Mike Schinkel over at Xtras is putting on a special promotion for folks who buy MSDN Universal: he's throwing in a Media Center hardware kit.

This might seem like advertising, but I've known Mike for almost a decade. Nice guy and has supported me a lot in the past so this is payback. As always, I don't get any financial renumeration from stuff like this.

Some fast posts before I head off to work:

Gizmodo got an interview with Bill Gates at CES. Hat tip to Dave Winer.

Engadget continues to amaze me with great CES coverage.

Michael Wolf found something fun to put into his iPod sock. Hey, my SmartPhone ain't gonna be found in any sock! Speaking of SmartPhones, there's a site that has tips for SmartPhone users and the current tip is killer.

Joe Wilcox covers some of the problems Microsoft has to face in the portable music player business.

Steve Rubel reported that Bob Lutz, GM over at General Motors, is now writing a personal Website. Hah, you thought I was gonna have to put $5 in the donation jar, huh?

Alfred Thompson is concerned by the Pew Internet Study's results.

Forbes: Apple Bites the Fans that Feed It.

Dare Obasanjo was quoted in the Wall Street Journal this week. Why? Because he got involved in a few harsh words being thrown back and forth between Google's Adam Bosworth and Krzysztof Kowalczyk. I'll have more to say on that point soon, probably over on the Red Couch.

Jonathan Schwartz, COO at Sun Microsystems, says "Developers don't buy things, they join things."

Anil Dash says his friends are on the cover of Fortune Magazine.

Tablet PC Talk is reporting that Microsoft is showing off a new Tablet PC OS. I've seen this, it's quite nice.

Brian Goldfarb is asking for feedback on Web templates for ASP.NET 2.0. I want templates that are standards based, that validate, that are freaking lightweight, that work on everything from SmartPhones to Firefox to IE, and that are beautiful.