LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Despite suffering embarrassing technical glitches during product demonstrations, US software giant Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates promised here Tuesday he will help consumers live a glitchless "digital lifestyle" in future.

Bill Gates (L) plays an Xbox car racing game against talk show host Conan O'Brian at the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 5. Despite suffering embarrassing technical glitches during product demonstrations, US software giant Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates promised here Tuesday he will help consumers live a glitchless "digital lifestyle" in future. (Reuters)

    Gates made the promise during his seventh annual pre-show keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's largest consumer electronics show to be held Jan. 6 -9 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

    While demonstrating what he called the "digital lifestyle" at the Hilton hotel, Gates inadvertently showed how vulnerable all computer users can be these days.

    During a digital photography demonstration, a Windows Media Center computer refused to respond to Gates' remote control.

    Later, during the demonstration of a soon-to-be-released computer game by a Microsoft Xbox program manager, the computer didn't work and displayed the blue screen saying "out of system memory."

    The glitches prompted celebrity host Conan O'Brien to quip, "Who's in charge of Microsoft, anyway?"

    Nevertheless, Gates promised that Microsoft would help the tech-savvy consumers seamlessly plug into a world of digital music, movies, video games and television shows.

    Gates said that the expansion of broadband Internet access and the falling of prices of digital devices are helping people integrate music, photos, movies and other aspects of their life into a digital format.

    "We predicted at the beginning of this decade that this would be a decade where the digital approach would be taken for granted," Gates said. "It's going even faster than we expected."

Bill Gates laughs as he plays an Xbox car racing game against talk show host Conan O'Brian at the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 5. (Reuters)

    Meanwhile, Gates announced several partnerships with telecommunication companies and television networks on product development.

    Microsoft will also partner with South Korea's LG Electronics SA to build a DVD player recorder using Microsoft's digital video recording software. It will attach to a television so users can record live shows onto a DVD.

    Under Gates' guidance, Microsoft has become the worldwide leader in software, digital services and solutions.

    Building on the popularity of its Windows operating system and Office productivity suite, Microsoft focuses on developing technology for the next-generation Internet and on connected devices, including the Media Center PC, Windows Mobile software for Pocket PCs, Smartphones and Portable Media Centers and the MSNnetwork.

    However, software bugs, virus and privacy concerns are hampering many consumers' step into a Windows-based digital lifestyle, which could be disastrous.

    "We've had a fair share of success and a fair share of things we've had to do version two and three of," said Gates, defending his company's record in increasing the security in using digital devices.

    Microsoft has become the major player at the annual CES, as Gates has used the show to preview products and technologies such as Xbox, Tablet PC, smart personal object technology (SPOT) watches and Smartphone in recent years.

    More than 120,000 people, including officials, exhibitors, manufacturers, retailers and media, are attending the 2005 CES, the world's biggest showcase of the latest products and trends in consumer electronics. Enditem