Keynote Lecture: The Future of Entertainment

• Robert J. Bach

For hundreds of years, entertainment has come in a wide variety of forms. Before the rise of technology kids were more than adequately amused with simple toys. Receiving a doll for christmas was a young girls dream come through. Because not much more was offered to small children as far as toys go, and kids did not expect extraordinary means of entertainment as seen with children today, a girl would develop a strong connection to her doll or dolls that would continue as she grew older. Similarly, a simple but more than exciting gift for a young boy might come in the form of a toy soldier, a wooden carved horse, or even a football or basketball. Just like the girl, a boy would hold these gifts very closely. It’s interesting to consider the effort put forth by a father carving a wooden horse for his boy, or a mother sewing a new outfit for her daughter’s doll, was compensated with the kids reactions to their simple, but thoughtful gifts. However, times have changed. A kid is no longer satisfied with a mere toy soldier, nor a girl with an ordinary doll, and in the view of Robert J. Bach, the President of Microsoft Corp. Entertainment and Devices division, they shouldn’t be, and neither should their parents.

A new age has come in entertainment for people of all ages. Although a kid might still love a simple wooden horse, or a girl a nicely dressed doll, toys and other forms of entertainment for kids of all ages exist that serve a much greater purpose than a simple toy horse or a doll ever could. Through the use of technology, electronics, and brilliant minds such as the mind of Bach, parents are now able to buy their kids, or themselves, forms of entertainment that can help enrich the intellectual mind, as well as please the youthful side of the mind looking to be entertained. The best ‘toys’ no longer come in plastic packaging available at toys’r’us, but rather in the form of computer programs built by the hands of engineers, programers, psychiatrists and authorized and distributed by many of the worlds largest and most successful programing and computer companies in the world. As people are drawn to technology and always desire the most up to date gadgets available, the evolution of entertainment through technology will not stop anytime soon. New gadgets and educational toys as well as frighteningly realistic violent video games for the most advanced consoles will continue to emerge and sweep the market of entertainment. It is up to the leading production companies, such as Bach’s Microsoft Corp., and to parents of young children to target the best ‘new age’ entertainment and use it in a positive light for the betterment of our society.