“There are two ways to view the Microsoft IPTV system. Microsoft’s way and the wrong way. For those of us that have dealt with Microsoft in the past, this is not an abnormal positioning,” Faultline writes for The Register.
“‘Ours is the only end to end IPTV solution which includes all aspects of IPTV from content ingestion to the consumer device,’ is the boast of Ed Gracyzk, director of marketing and communications for Microsoft’s TV division. Some people might see that as the only closed, monopolistic technology you would never control… The more that Microsoft DRM clients proliferate, the less likely it is that Microsoft will feel the need to interoperate with other DRM systems. And if there is no interoperability, then another Microsoft monopoly will emerge almost over night. And with that monopoly, there will be all the legal trouble that Microsoft has had before. The humble iPod will not be able to get access to any music downloaded from Microsoft IPTV and presumably the same will be true of any future video iPod or anything like it, such as the humble DVD Recorder or DVR player. They will all pay homage to Microsoft or have their options limited.,” Faultline writes.
“So are we all going to see Microsoft on every other TV screen? After all, a TV service that says ‘brought to you by Microsoft technology,’ is about the best advertising that Microsoft can get, and potentially it lasts forever. ‘In some case the operator wants to rely on the Microsoft brand and actively wants it on the screen. In other systems the consumer may not even be aware that it is Microsoft software inside the device. But even when we are shown, we are always the ‘ingredient’ brand, never the main brand,’ explains Gracyzk,” Faultline reports.
Full article here.
Wired News’ Michael Grebb also has a report: “Coming soon to a screen near you: IPTV… One global driver of IPTV is Microsoft, which has been pushing its Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software in hopes of dominating the nascent IPTV market. Microsoft has been trying to break into the TV business for years with limited success.”
Grebb reports, “So far, Microsoft has stuck IPTV deals with carriers around the world, including Bell Canada, British Telecom, Reliance Infocomm, Swisscom, Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telecom’s T-Online France, as well as SBC, BellSouth and Verizon in the United States. (It’s providing a customized version of its Microsoft TV platform with both digital-cable and IPTV features for Verizon.) According to Microsoft, its telecom IPTV customers (including some yet to be announced) now represent 26 percent of the world’s residential fixed-access phone lines (75 percent in the United States) and cover 28 percent of the world’s DSL customers.”
Grebb reports, “Gary Arlen, president of Arlen Communications in Bethesda, Maryland, said it could be a decade or more before the cable industry widely adopts IP-based video delivery. But as telephone companies look to launch IPTV in various markets by next year, cable operators may eventually have no choice but to upgrade their networks all over again.”
Full article here.
If Microsoft will be controlling every other TV screen, a silent blue screen will have the highest Nielsen ratings in history.
Nielsen was a Dane!
Hey gimme a break, I just live here. And I don’t want no MS TV.
joe
To paraphrase Homer Simpson (alias Max Power):
Homer: “There’re two ways to do things: The wrong way, and the Max Power way”.
Bart: “Isn’t that the same as the wrong way?”
Homer: “Yes, but faster.”
Microsoft is definitely a subscriber to the Max Power way of doing things (except with regards to Longhorn/Vista of course).
::Shudder::
“The humble iPod will not be able to get access to any music downloaded from Microsoft IPTV and presumably the same will be true of any future video iPod or anything like it,”
Just a guess, but wouldn’t this just add fuel to the ITMS fire. I mean if you can’t play music from MS on the iPod, and most of the mp3 world owns an iPod, I’d think this plan would keep most of the world with ITMS, and send those iPodders that do not use it to it.
Don´t know much about IPTV, but does this mean that WMV will win over superior MPEG technology?….
I don’t watch TV that much anyways… actually I don’t even own a TV. and NO, I’m not kidding!
“… the less likely it is that Microsoft will feel the need to interoperate with other DRM systems…”
So what M$ technology is it that is allowed to use iTunes purchased music?
When did M$ update MediaPlayer to interact with the iPod?
What other players on the market can I plug into my Mac and copy over the album I just purchased from Apple with money I exchanged for a product I wanted to own and control.
The right way.
The wrong way.
The Micro$oft way!
IP is just another variation of live broadcasting. IT IS ALREADY DEAD!! Video(pod)casting allows you to download what you want when you want. You can subscribe and have them all ready to play when you get home. Better than TiVo; you don’t have to wait for the broadcast to occur and you can download previous episodes. Video Podcasting is completely free of the restraints of time.
And, of course the obvious observation… can you possibly make something dead any quicker than claiming it’s NOT iPod compatible?
There is no doubt that Apple has internet video in its sights. HD and H.264 is the ONLY way to go!! Apple ALREADY has it ALL in place. Did you know that Apple ALREADY allows you to use its broadcasting software for FREE?!
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/broadcaster/
The QuickTime Broadcast software is ALREADY there for you to download and use NOW without any licensing fees using every ounce of the H.264 quality… NOW!!!!
Apple has a monopoly, thanks to ‘Fair’-play, I am sure MS can’t be that evil !
My guess is that MPEG4 will be the preferred HD format for both motion pictures on Blu-ray, and tv transmissions. If i am correct, is it possible for Mediocresoft to embed their DRM on their IPTV transmissions?… Or will they need to decode everything in WMV… ?
Don’t watch TV either. Only DVDs for the kids on the computer in the living room, and occasionally ourselves. Definitely don’t want Microsoft gaining any more monopoly power than they already have – they’ve already proven they’ll do the absolute minimum amount of useful work and innovation necessary to maintain their monopoly. Luckily they’ve come in a little under the minimum necessary the last few years – here’s hoping the MS monopoly continues to crumble!!
I hope they try to lock out the iPod. Then Apple can finally get legal revenge for all of the ripoffs MS has done to them over the years.
Microsoft sucks, their stuff is junk, Bill Gates is Godless and gay! There…I said it!
Perhaps that is why ‘Vista’ is featureless and delayed: MS has been concentrating on new (and more profitable) markets.
If that is the case, it would be easy to see why they would choose to lose the desktop battle in favor of winning the home entertainment system war.
“Content ingestion”? So this system will ingest content, digest it, and deliver a steaming pile of $#!+ into your living room? Yep, sounds like Microsoft.
if you couple this with the uncertain nature of apple future direction of business with intel
then you have the makings of a extinction level
event that could see apple giving back all that it has gained in these
ipod years.
i, for one, am very skpetical that apple
can make this work out. but on the other hand, apple will have a very
easy route back to ibm for power pc, if need be.
Apple will have it’s own version which will take over anyways. Let Microshaft block users and they will move to Apple’s version instead. Thanks Microshaft!
If Microsoft controls IPTV I won’t buy it anyways. I have directv which works fine for me anyways.
Microso.sft .. Microso.sft ..f.t.a..
This used to be a Appel Mac news site and not a kind of religious war !
Mike Buonarroti: That’s all very well, but I don’t see The Sopranos or The Daily Show on video(pod)cast anytime soon!
MW: “dead”? – not quite
Telstra in Australia evaluated the IPTV tech from M$, decided it was crap and junked it.
lisa must be a man.
No woman is that stupid.
MacDoctor wrote “Bill Gates is Godless and gay”.
Gates cannot be Gay! Gays have style, class and taste.
We should all stop watching TV. The networks have made us all addicted to their over-hyped fear. They are MORE to blame for the fear than the terrorists. The networks INTENTIONALLY make the news more tragic and dire than it really is. EACH YEAR, more than 5 times as many children die in our country from malnutrition or lack of medical care than the number of people that died in 9/11. But, explosions and the word “terrorism” sells more ad space on CNN than a poor child being buried in Mississippi. I refuse to buy into their anti-patriotic capitalism, wasting air time on the deeds of terrorists that we can’t do anything about, and not noting the local heros and their daily fight to save the lives of the people around them, the people saving American lives every day.
I buy local newspapers, give to local charities, and support the local volunteer fire department (yes, not ONE of the men and women on the department gets paid). Feeling sad about a MSNBC news report isn’t one millionth as useful as the few dollars the neighbors kids gave from their lemonade sale to the fire department.
Patriotism is NOT feeling sad while watching the network hype and commercials. Patriotism is doing something – ANYTHING!!!
Throw OUT your TV, it’s nothing but commercialism interlaced with over-hyped reality or outright pure fiction. Instead, take that time to go out and help someone.
No woman is that stupid.
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