[Am-info] "Battle for the living room"

[Erick Andrews]

"Microsoft's plans to take over the home entertainment market are 
well advanced..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1342348,00.html

"Bill Gates already delivers the operating system for the majority 
 of PCs, and is taking an ever-growing chunk of the smartphone 
 and PDA markets. But now the Microsoft empire is stepping up 
 its plans to control the space under your TV.

"Two weeks ago in London, the company unveiled the latest 
 incarnation of its Windows XP Media Center operating system, 
 which turns standard computers into mini entertainment hubs, 
 hooking them up to a TV to offer a huge range of audio and 
 video applications.

"The theory runs that within a decade, standard cathode ray tube 
 TVs, VHS videos and DVD players will be history. In their place 
 will be a home entertainment system in which one box wirelessly 
 streams audio, video, web and television content to a series of flat 
 screens and handheld devices throughout the home. That box could 
 possibly be anywhere in your house, but the first step for Microsoft 
 is to establish its PCs as the prime consumer electronics product 
 for the living room. [more]"

The concern here, I think, is that MS will impose its 'standards'
on the new hardware.

Erick Andrews