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Time:
17:05 EST/22:05 GMT | News Source:
CNET |
Posted By: Byron Hinson |
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates took the stage at WinHEC on Thursday,
announcing support for Bluetooth wireless networking technology and
demonstrating technologies that he sees becoming pervasive in home "personal
networks." As earlier
reported, Microsoft later this year plans to sell keyboards and mice that
use Bluetooth technology to connect to PCs, Gates told the audience at
Microsoft's Windows Hardware
Engineering Conference. The company will push Bluetooth software as well,
releasing a development kit in May to help programmers support the technology
and posting a download that will give Windows XP (news
-
web sites) built-in Bluetooth abilities this fall. Microsoft also will sell
a Bluetooth transceiver--the radio antenna that communicates with Bluetooth
devices--that plugs into a PC's USB port.
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#1 By
442 (24.95.241.95)
at
4/19/2002 12:39:14 AM
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About two years ago...what was that thing Apple announced? Oh yes, the Digital Hub. That's the thing they've been deivering on with solid products and services for over two years. That's the concept that has been raved about by reviewers of all sorts...and in every computing magazine...even PC ones! I remember reading about how Apple was blazing past everyone else again. Now I remember...thanks for reminding me Bill.
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#2 By
3339 (65.198.47.10)
at
4/19/2002 2:37:19 PM
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I'm not really picky about who's idea this is... I think it's true that end users were thinking this just as much if not more so than the CEOs... What I think is important is the lack of consistency in the MS strategy... When you are trying to build tablets, PDAs, cellphones, and game consoles that have all of the power as the PC (I'll say Mira and Freestyle treat the PC as a hub since they're dependent on it...), you aren't treating the PC as a hub--you are displacing its importance and saying that other devices can substitute for its capabilities... That's not a "PC as the Hub of Digital Activity" strategy--that's a "We feel threatened by every other device, and the only way we can compete with these devices is to turn them into a PC" strategy.
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#3 By
3339 (65.198.47.10)
at
4/19/2002 4:33:25 PM
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Anonymous weeny, explain the idiocy. Just because I might be a bit sarcastic doesn't mean the logic to my statement isn't self evident. If the PC is the hub, the center point of these devices, why does MS's vision of PDAs, tablets, cellphones, and consoles almost entirely duplicate the functionality of the PC? Shouldn't they serve their purpose and be connected through the PC? Isn't MS's rationale, for having a superior cellphone, PDA, tablet, and console solution in comparison to the more dedicated options of competitors, is that they are more powerful, that the user expects PC-like functionality?
No, I think you realize that my assessment is accurate and that Gates will harp on a strategy that was made big and makes sense to consumers but that this is not reflected in their products or in reality.
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#4 By
2459 (66.25.124.8)
at
4/19/2002 5:46:19 PM
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Sodajerk, none of the devices you mentioned is as powerful as a current desktop PC except for the XBOX and the TabletPC. The TabletPC needs to be as powerful as a desktop so you can get work done when you aren't at your desktop computer. It is a notebook computer. The XBOX and other game consoles have always tried to keep up with or surpass the power of a PC because they need all the power they can get for the graphics and physics calculations in contemporary video games.
The hub strategy isn't necessarily about no other device being as powerful as the PC. It's about using the PC and its highly flexible capabilities with other devices, making interfacing with other devices, exchanging data between devices, and increasing accessibility, control, and sychronicity of data and devices people need/want to use easier and more inegrated.
One thing you overlooked is that these most of these devices will either interface with the PC for data exchange or increased capibilities, or they work to extend the flexibility of the PC, or allow you to access the PC remotely via wire, wirelessly, or the web, giving you direct access to your desktop wherever you are when you need it's power or it's data. Tight integration with .NET, UPnP, and/or various wired and wireless technologies also push the hub strategy closer to reality.
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#5 By
3339 (65.198.47.10)
at
4/19/2002 6:25:49 PM
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enforcer, just because they aren't there yet doesn't mean that's not MS's goal. For example, you skip over PocketPC but the argument I hear from softies is that they virtually provide the power of their PC in comparison to Palm devices. And you are making the wrong conclusion about what I'm suggesting--yes, consoles have power, but they haven't really tried to duplicate the features of a PC.
No, I'm not overlooking the fact that all these devices would be connected--my point is that it's MS's goal to attract people to these products that do not need much capability from their PC in order to get them using Windows and/or MS services... This is a displacement theory--if you had all of these devices--a smartphone, a tablet, a (homestation-like) console, a PocketPC, wouldn't you be performing functions of the PC from these other devices? In fact, is the PC your primary system if you are using all of these devices (especially if TV gets integrated, I entirely left that out)? It sounds to me lke I'd hardly be using my PC. It sounds to me like a would start to segregate certain functions and activities by using the more preferable device... Rather than using the device for its specific purpose and using the PC to create content, manage content, communicate, and administer.
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#6 By
5444 (208.180.245.59)
at
4/19/2002 11:57:00 PM
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Well two points.
Apple has delivered on an Apple Ideal of a Dgital Hub. Although hardly an Apple Idea, as MS was talking about convergence in 1995, The main issue is that MS doesn't control the hardware. (and still way to many OEM's putting in Old graphics cards)
Back when Device Bay was all the rage, (too bad it didn't happen) there was talk of digital convergence.
There are two main issues going on. One how to put the PC as the center of the control. (We already have a central control box for the home entertainment center as it is, although mostly analog)
BTW Gateway had a digital Home Center several years before apple.
Things I would like to see.
A digital phone connection that will accept calls from outside lines. (so I can drop local phone service:) Based on 802.11b/a A cellear phone that will automatically switch between 802.11 and terrestial phone services.
an module that accepst the satalite signal and decodes it:)
a module that takes over the distribution of the multimedia box.
El.
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#7 By
2459 (66.25.124.8)
at
4/20/2002 5:48:14 AM
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Palm devices are so underpowered, the Apple Newton could still give it good competition (Personally, I considered the Newton a better PDA). I didn't skip the PocketPC. I included it with the devices that are not as powerful as a modern desktop PC. The PocketPC is a powerful PDA, but it is still primarily meant to be used along with a full-powered PC. It is capable of running more powerful apps than the Palm, but its included apps are mostly mini versions of their desktop counterparts provided for interoperability and synchronization. However, I could see the PocketPC as easily being a digital hub in its own right, offering device connectivity through USB/1394/PCMCIA, but no one ever said you couldn't have some peer devices in the digital hub concept. You may have multiple computers on a network, but have a music store on one that all can use, for example. Apple has their desktop systems, but they also include their notebooks. Argueably, their notebooks are peers to the desktops just as they are in the PC world.
My view is that their is a lot more utility and greater economy in a device that duplicates some functionality than a (comparatively) dumb device that does only one thing. The former provides more value, and allows some separation from the PC when desired, but still allows connectivity back to the PC when necessary (e.g., I can use a PocketPC in a meeting when I don't want to take a notebook along, or a place where a notebook may not be appropriate, but I can take any acquired data and upload it to/sync it with my PC when needed. And if I desire the power of the desktop PC, I can remotely connect to it with the PocketPC using Terminal Services[Remote Desktop] or access its provided data via a web service or through FTP, or whatever ).
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#8 By
2459 (66.25.124.8)
at
4/20/2002 5:48:33 AM
|
Consoles have always mirrored the PC in some ways. The Sega Genesis had a Motorola 68000 CPU and Z80(I think) sound, almost like the Mac's 68040. It offered 2D acceleration not unlike the PC. It had an optional modem. It had an optional CD-ROM drive. It could be used as a PC in Japan. The 32X and Saturn (and all consoles since) offered 3D acceleration not unlike PCs, and had similar games (Doom on 32X/Quake on Saturn/Quake 3, UT, and others on Dreamcast, etc.). The Dreamcast included a modem, had an available broadband adaptor, came with a web browser, had PC emulators ported to it, and it utilized PowerVR graphics technology that was based upon the company's PC graphics technology (with some Sega-implemented improvements). The PS2 has USB/Firewire ports, and an upcomming harddrive/modem/NIC. The Genesis on up to the Dreamcast and PS2 have keyboards/mice. The Gamecube has a PowerPC and ATI (actually ArtX) graphics. It looks like a fat Dreamcast, but also loosely resembles the Apple Cube, especially the Japanese Gamecube that plays DVDs. It has limited support for SD cards and is rumored to have a microdrive in the works.
What you are mainly seeing with the devices you mentioned is convergence where appropriate and, for some casual users, possible independence from the PC. However, mirroring some of the PC's capabillities aids in compatability and interoperability between devices and the PC. Sure, some people may find that they don't require a full-powered PC and can get by with a PocketPC or Smartphone, but for many, these devices will simply be additions to the PC -- tools that porvide the standalone functionality they expect/need, but simultaneously make managing and marshaling data to and from their PC, maintaining data and online identity persistence, and increasing availability and connectivity back to their PC all the easier.
Oh yeah, the TV thing. TV integration (as with Freestyle) will simply provide another display for your PC. For people that want to access their PC from anywhere in the home, the TV integration will function as a large Mira screen so that no matter what room you are in, you can access your PC. Using something like the bluetooth Keyboard/mouse, or maybe a handheld Mira, you would control your PC while being able to view its contents on the larger (preferably HDTV) screen of your TV. With that said, however, the HDTV could altogether replace the normal computer monitor like the regular TV does currently for some people, but the PC will remain the PC because of its limitless utility, configurability, and flexibility. Unless the RIAA, MPAA, and Disney succeed in ruining these very things that make the PC a great platform.
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#9 By
3339 (64.175.43.38)
at
4/20/2002 8:56:58 PM
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Enforcer, I am aware of these things, but that doesn't address that MS has a muddled strategy, and that Apple's, and that the console builders, especially, have different strategies. My point is what Microsoft says is their strategy doesn't match up with their product development.
El, I think your injecting your own ideas for the strategy into what you think may be Apple's strategy. Apple did have a very early digital convergence appliance and it failed. I don't think they will try to release such a product. And I don't think they see that as a goal exactly.
Your phoone idea s fine, but I don't think the telephone companies, cellphone, and satellite companies are going to go for it--nevermind trying to get the regulations properly lined up with the product.
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