No more Steve Ballmer talks and antics at future CES gatherings, as Microsoft has decided to pull out of the yearly showcase of new electronic products, making the Las Vegas show in January 2012 the last for the software giant.

Microsoft's move will mark the end of more than a decade of participation on the International Consumer Electronics Show that saw company co-founder Bill Gates addressing the thousand of attendees for 11 consecutive years before Ballmer took over.

One reason given by Microsoft for the withdrawal is that the schedule of the consumer electronic bazaar does not match Microsoft's product release timelines.

In fact, even if Ballmer would deliver his customary speech, Microsoft admitted that its familiar booth will be absent at the Jan. 9-12 exposition.

While Microsoft says Windows 8 will debut by the last quarter of 2012, the Associated Press reports that Ballmer will still discuss bits and pieces of the latest operating system that will be deployed on PCs, smartphones and tablet computers.

"Ballmer's going to be stuck trying to present a bunch of stuff that will be months away from being ready," AP reported tech analyst Rob Enderle as saying in providing a snapshot on what to expect (and not to expect) from the speech.

In lieu of the CES platform, media reports said Microsoft plans to hold its in-house product launches, as the need arises, much in the same way that Apple releases its new line of electronic gadgets.

However, Microsoft has assured that its customers can continue to expect specks of Microsoft products on future CES shows as vendors show off upcoming PCs and devices powered by the company's new OS.

More than 100,000 consumer electronic aficionados are expected to troop to Las Vegas next month, but analysts said new Microsoft-laden products will have to wait for the next CES event as Windows 8 will not assume its final form until later next year.

Even Microsoft's latest partner, Nokia, has been issuing smartphones still operated by the updated Windows Phone 7 while another major mobile handset maker, Samsung, had indicated plans to issue tablet computers on Windows by the second half of 2012.

It is unclear though if the tablets will be the first to carry Windows 8 or they will be simply configured for later updates once the new mobile platform is released.