Yet Sara Cooper's new work, "The Memory Show, " turns out to be a poignant, sophisticated and often humorous musical about dealing with Alzheimer's disease.

WSJ: Review: 'Memory Show' is poignant musical on loss

Initially, memory problems may show up as forgetting appointments, repeating anecdotes, confusion, misplacing things, and trouble finding the right word in conversation.

CNN: Aging workforce means dementia on the job could rise

There was no question that the tech giant's absence would be felt the following year, the first time in recent memory the Consumer Electronics Show wasn't kicked off by a Microsoft keynote.

ENGADGET: How hardware startups changed the face of CES