Microsoft Announce Future Vision News

At the on-going Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates unveiled their plans of home entertainment, digital distribution and further global domination – otherwise known as Windows Media Centre Extender Technology.

It’s claimed that the software that will power the wave of next generation equipment from Microsoft and other hardware partners, will allow consumers to access their favourite digital entertainment, such as live and recorded television, photos, movies and music that reside on their Windows XP Media Centre Edition PC, from any room in the house regardless of where the PC is located.

Companies such as Alienware Corp, Dell Inc, HP, Samsung Electornics Co Ltd., Tatung Co and Wistron Corp are working with Microsoft to create a variety of products to the market, including set-top boxes and integrated televisions by winter 2004.

In addition Microsoft announced the Xbox Media Centre Extender Kit, which will combine an Xbox DVD title with a dedicated remote control, allowing consumers to extend their Windows XP Media Centre Edition around the home using the Xbox console to do such things as plyback live and recorded video, music and photos.

In order to join Microsoft’s future vision of entertainment, you’ll need a new Media Centre Edition PC first of all, as traditional PCs do not have the necessary hardware to run Media Centre products. There are currently 40 models available to choose from, a list of which is available at the <a href=http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/howtobuy/default.asp>Microsoft website</a>. Next you’ll need to pick up either a set-top box or an integrated television, which will be made available towards the end of the year – multimedia, set top boxes and home entertainment have been bandied about for years as anyone misfortunate enough to be suckered into the Philips CDi will tell you, now it’s finally come of age it’s certainly going to set you back a substantial amount and once again the question of Microsoft’s monopolistic presence has to be questioned.

It could be said that this is just a ploy to create another wave of consumers buying PCs, which have seen a rapid decline in recent years – certainly aiming at the entertainment market ensures that it’s hitting a larger audience then just the typical hardcore who are often the first to flock to a new introduction.

However the benefits are certainly enough for us to forget about the fact that Microsoft is controlling our lives; recording live TV and burning to DVDs may be technology that’s available now, however unifying it and offering such services as recording an entire season at the touch of a button to storing programmes and music on portable devices to enjoy on the move is hype that we’ll always find ourselves caught up by. As an example of what to expect, ESPN is offering a service that allows users of Media Centre PCs to download directly from the Internet instant, high-quality, full-screen ESPN Motion video and watch it on their television or PC.

One thing you can be certain of is the impending battle between Microsoft and Sony for control of your entertainment needs; there can be no doubt with the release of the PSX and forthcoming PSP and PS3 that Sony are after the same market – it is after all the natural evolution of including a DVD in both the Xbox and PS2.

Recognising the need to secure content for the next evolution of entertainment, Microsoft also took the opportunity to announce 16 new films in Windows Media High-Definition Video (WMHDV) from Artisan Entertainment, IMAX Corp, National Geographic Society and others. It’s claimed that this format supports 5.1 channel surround sound and video up to six times the resolution of a standard TV – although why you would need that is beyond us.

We’ll have a closer look at Microsoft and Sony’s vision of the future soon, but until then you better start saving all those pennies