This week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs opened the 2004 MacWorld Expo with a Keynote address, and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates delivered the Pre-Show Keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Both presented their visions of how technology can “make our lives better”. Where the two men’s philosophies, and in turn their corporate “karmas”, diverge, is in their notions of what the terms “digital convergence” and “digital lifestyle” mean.

“Digital convergence” and “digital lifestyle” describe the long-anticipated synergy between digital computing, personal digital media (video/photos/music) and commercial digital entertainment (movies/TV/music). Media giants like Microsoft have been licking their chops, waiting on the two missing parts of this trillion-dollar stew – widespread broadband internet adoption, and high-speed wireless connectivity.

Here’s what the digitally converged home looks like, in Microsoft’s vision. YOU BUY a PC with Windows Media Center software and hardware installed, with a built-in TV and radio tuner and whopping-big hard drive to record TV and audio. YOU BUY a new TV (and/or stereo) that has built-in connectivity with the Media Center PC. If you’re happy with your present TV (and/or stereo), YOU BUY a Windows Media Center Extender, which can (hopefully) connect your older equipment to the Media Center PC. If your PC is in another room because your spouse doesn’t want it in the family room, YOU BUY a Smart Display, a wireless touch screen monitor from which you can control your burgeoning digital empire. Here’s a direct quote from a Microsoft underling describing the Smart Display, which would be humorous if it wasn’t so tragic: “I can take this out, bring it into the living room, and while my kids are playing away on the rug, I can actually be reading my email, or browsing the web, and still giving them lots of attention.” Giving them lots of attention? Right. YOU BUY family counseling.

Are you getting the idea that the two operative words in this treatise are YOU BUY? Don’t put your credit card away just yet – there’s more. In order to get access to content, YOU BUY a broadband internet connection. Then, YOU BUY Microsoft’s MSN 8 Premium Broadband Service, which includes email, web storage, and a lot of video content. Oh, and a LOT of advertising – enough to set the ad agency hearts a flutterin’. And remember, it’s Microsoft, so everything you watch, they’ll quietly “remember”, under the guise of “providing you better content”. So, do YOU BUY into this?

In stark contrast, Steve Jobs’ MacWorld address (see more details in my companion column) focused on major updates to Apple’s iLife suite of creative “digital lifestyle” applications (photo management, video editing, DVD creation, and portable music), which cement Apple’s leadership position in digital content creation. The real highlight of the show, however, was a fifth digital lifestyle application called GarageBand - a home digital recording studio on your computer. You can record live instruments and vocals, and play many different instrument voices through a MIDI keyboard. If you have no instrumental musical talent, you can create music by selecting from pre-recorded “loops” that GarageBand syncs together. When you’re done, you can publish your masterpiece to the web or your iPod.

GarageBand, and the other iLife applications, exemplify not only the market, but the attitude, that Apple is going after. People who want to create, not just consume; who want to “do”, not just “watch”. It’s the difference between using your computer to edit movies of your family with emotion and style, and creating a moving DVD for the grandparents, and, using your computer to record “The Bachelor” so you don’t have to miss the last episode of “Friends”.

© 2004 Peter F. Zimowski