“Despite Bill Gates’ announcement of new partnerships with LG, Discovery Channel and many others, his dream, of a Media Center where all media can be controlled with one remote and shared among all possible devices, will come true but not for Microsoft,” Frank Ottink writes for YEALD. “So far the only company who has control over most aspects and has proven that it can pull together the parties is of course Apple with the iPod/iTunes combination.”
Ottink writes, “I’m not sure, but like many others, I suspect the rumored below $500 Q88 or ‘headless’ iMac, will be the first step of Apple to create a seamless media experience. The fact that it is headless makes it very suitable to become a TiVo like Personal Video Recorder sitting under or on top of a TV. Add some nifty Media Center software, connectivity to the iPod, the house network, and the internet, preferably wireless, and you have the perfect Media Center solution without having to buy a new high-end Media Center PC. “
“Just connect it to your existing PC or Mac and you have the best of both worlds a dedicated workstation anywhere in the house connected to a dedicated media center in the family living room sharing whatever media they have stored on them without wires. To make it all worthwhile for Apple, assure that with the remote control, songs and videos can be bought, downloaded and/or streamed. The users then have access to all the media they want,” Ottink writes. “If Apple would succeed in achieving this it certainly will attract a lot of first time Mac buyers and can take a large byte out of the Media Center market away from Microsoft, just as it did with the iPod and iTunes in the portable audio and on-line music market. This will eat into Microsoft’s and the related hardware vendors’ market share as the Media Center is one of the few growth drivers left in the PC business. On top of that it will convert more buyers completely to the Mac platform further reducing Microsoft’s overall market share.”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple vs. Microsoft rivalry heats up again – January 10, 2005
“Why don’t you go play with your XBOX right now”
How do you know I am not?
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Your game doesn’t seem to be very immersive then.
OK children a few facts.
Xbox 1 is a disaster for Microsoft and will never pay for itself. This is why it is having to be totally redesigned to make it something that can work and pay for itself. That new Xbox is trying to copy the technogy that Sony has long been dveloping for PS3 along with IBM and others. It will be cut throat at best and from the side lines we can all laugh at these two monoliths beating themselves to a pulp while more nimble companies eat away at their markets.
Windows is on a certain path to decline. Linux is the future it has the support of the Asian market which will increasingly be the dominant market. The US market will by comparison be but a side issue withing 20 years at most so get used to it boys. As for windows media the Asians and most other bodies that matter have already commited to MPEG 4 (ie Quicktime plus open standards so again that war will go that particular way. Again get used to it. The US is years behind in 3G technology the standards and markets are being made else where as will all markets and regulations as time progresses.
Media Centres are expensive white elephants that no major consumer company thinks is a serious option. They will be a niche product until something cheaper and more flexible does a better job.
So what does this tell us? Microsoft is a stumbling giant that has little ability to do anything right these days and its days as the boss guy are numbered its just that its clone like fans havn’t the wit to see the wriing on the wall as yet. But they will just see the tears flow from the poor deluded fools lol . The experts on the other hand (not the short sighted tech hacks) are increasingly seeing it and nothing bites the dust quicker than a falling giant once the momentum really takes off. Thats when the clowns (techno luddites) who slavishly follow start to quit the sinking ship. Titanic anyone?
“Your game doesn’t seem to be very immersive then”
Its called multitasking.
Please can MDN remove this fatuous arse calling himself Smithy…
His contribution to this site and planet is really less than a dung-beetles.
Smithy the xBox promoter – piss off, once and for all.
<<<all media can be controlled with one remote>>>
All my entertainment on one remote? Good God, I have 4 kids and 5 remotes, and I can never find any of them.
er, that would be the remotes, not the kids.
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“Xbox 1 is a disaster for Microsoft and will never pay for itself”
Microsoft still made record profits in the past 12 months in spite of the XBOX.
Plus Microsoft may actually break even on the games divsion this quarter partly from huge Halo 2 sales.
“Windows is on a certain path to decline”
Windows has over 90% of th world’s desktop market (nothing even comes close) and 34% of all server sales.
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If anything Microsoft has increased market share in servers for the past 2 years at least.
“Linux is the future it has the support of the Asian market which will increasingly be the dominant market. The US market will by comparison be but a side issue withing 20 years at most so get used to it boys”
Rubbish!
Windows is dominant in Japan, the biggest economy in Asia, and Windows has the biggest market share in China. Windows is in charge in the 2 biggest PC markets in Asia by far.
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In China nearly all pirated softwate is Microsoft Windows and Office.
Even the thieves want Windows because the people demand it.
“As for windows media the Asians and most other bodies that matter have already commited to MPEG 4 “
Microsoft Windows Media Player is the dominant media player in Japan today
Same with China.
That is what consumers are using already, irrespective of who is “commited ” to what.
“Media Centres are expensive white elephants that no major consumer company thinks is a serious option. “
Media Centre is ALREADY gathering momentum since the lastrelease.
Expect Media Cantre to grdually take over from most home PC’s as they get better and the prices continue to plumet.
Its a natural progression.
Mac fanatics have been making wrong predictions for decacdes.
Why should that change now?
Smithy
Reason why MS is taking a beating is because they now must compete. The cream always rises to the top. Look at the crap they put out. Thank you Apple Computer.
” Microsoft is a stumbling giant that has little ability to do anything right these days and its days as the boss guy are numbered its just that its clone like fans havn’t the wit to see the wriing on the wall as yet.”
LMAO!
Dream on.
Microsoft just had the best 12 months of Microsoft’s entire history, with record sales, record profits and firing on all cylinders.
You are confusing wishful thinking with reality.
You are going to get a very rude awakening.
“Reason why MS is taking a beating is because they now must compete”
Microsoft is having the best sales and profits of Microsoft’s life.
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Where’s the “beating” at?
Stupid XBox-loving fake “Smithy”:
No numbers to back up your claims? That makes YOU rubbish, lad. No URLs to point to? Then you’re pulling it our yer arse. Without proof, you’re nothing but a lying piece of shyte.
To the real Smithy:
Have patience. Trolls never last long.
The funniest thing is, you guys keep feeding the troll. I find I’m rooting for Smithy.
“Without proof, you’re nothing but a lying piece of shyte.”
Pathetic Mac nut!
I have given all the figures I need to,
Are you sure you can read at all?
To the MS Faithfull
Be honest now, would you trust MS with all Home functions? Let see:
Your alarm clock not going of at the wrong time?
Coming home to find you stove not on?
Your bath not over flowing?
The Coffee maker is not on & burnt out?
Oh and the list can go on & on… I know I won’t be using it..
Yes I would trust Microsoft. I would not and will never trust apple.
To Smithy and everyone else, including the real Smithy,
Thanks heaps for the fun reading this morning.
Can you guys believe I had these same arguments 20 years ago in early high school, over Apples vs MS DOS vs and other smaller computers.
You know, we used to joke that all those Lisa’s (I think it was) that Apple bulldozed into the ground would one day be dug up by Gates and have MS-DOS ported to it. Talk about a step backwards.
The jokes and comments are the same, the tech just changes.
Smithy…
Think about this:
‘Biggest is NOT always best”
An example: The Roman Empire = and we all know what happened to that monoply – Need I say more?
Microsoft Windows Media Player is the dominant media player in Japan today
Actually Quicktime is thanks to cell phones.
Media Centre is ALREADY gathering momentum since the lastrelease.
It’s gathering momentum in a niche market being eclipsed by $20 DVD/MP3 players that the majority will keep on buying until something else comes along to replace that with another $20 item.
Expect Media Cantre to grdually take over from most home PC’s as they get better and the prices continue to plumet.
Nah, by 2007, Linux will be the buzzword for home desktop PCs. Heck, even TiVo is more popular than Media Center PCs and it runs Linux. Which means Linux has already attacked the livingroom without joe consumer even knowing about it.
Its a natural progression.
The natural progression from Windows to Linux. It’s already dominant on the server and will dominate the desktop slowly, but surely. Consumers will always buy the cheapest alternative and Linux fits that model better than anybody else.
Mac fanatics have been making wrong predictions for decacdes.
Why should that change now?
You Windows fanatics (Microsofties) are the ones with your heads in the clouds, at least Mac fanatics are realistic.
Leave the home automation to home automation experts (elan) you focking morons..MS isnt going to enter the Automation Market…As for me, I would trust MS with “some” home functions such as my MCPC. Which I already have and its been great. As far as Apple. I would trust them for Graphics, since thats what I use for Graphics. Bar None, a PC blows away any console shit that anyone can put out. I have an xbox and a ps2. The XBOX blows away the PS2…Anyone who says Halo 2 sucks, Is either a moron spreading fud who has never even seen the game and making their judgements on the game based on the perspective they have on MS. Or like to play games with a PC and just cant get used to a FPS on a console.
As far as I’m concerned I OWN MY LIVING ROOM, NOT APPLE OR MS.
Brought to you by “Maybe”…
If we lower ourselves to reply to an idiot, we become one as well.
magic word : ignore
Here’s an interesting read…
HP lifts curtain on Linux media hub;
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160393
as quoted from the article…
The Entertainment Center, running Windows XP Media Center Edition, is in essence a PC that sits in the living room. But Fiorina conceded that: “A lot of people out there really don’t want PC functionality in their living room.”
HP is opening more doors for Linux everyday 😎
I made the mistake of buying an HP Media Center Desktop with MS Media Center Software. The first two tv shows I tried to record caused the software to freeze up and shut down the computer. I took it back for a refund wondering what the hell was I was thinking??? Apple is the only company that can do this right. I shudder to think of what a future will be like with Media Servers running Microsoft OSes. Bleak.
My Media Center was the best thing I ever did next to returning my tivo that is.