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it's funny how one person cna stir such a frenzy. He's not even a rock star.

I think that it's hard to comment on what MS are trying to do unless you've actually used all the technology (which I think few people have).

I'm lucky enough to own a Media center PC, Xbox 360 and a Standard XP PC. I use my Media center as my main TV, connected to a decent size LCD TV, I stream my recorded and Live TV programmes wirelessly to my Xbox 360 in the bedroom using the media remote to change channels and schedule recordings.

I stream downloaded content (Videos, MP3's, photos) from my XP PC to both my Xbox 360 and Media Center, I can schedule recordings remotely via MSN messenger and everything just WORKS. Easy to set up and easy to keep going - I'm yet to find anything as simple to set up.

MS have done a hell of a lot and the upcoming tech looks great. IPTV via Xbox 360 sounds like a good idea - just look at how successful the movie download service has been in the states - outselling big rivals like Amazon.

Lets cut them some slack and take a less pessimistic view!

Regarding Rob's comment, while I agree that his setup sounds like it works really well, it must also have cost a fair amount....
I'll be interested to see how Apple's iTV compares in price for people who don't want to have to add a Media Center PC and XBox 360 in order to do these things....??

If you can add an iTV for £200 ish to your existing Mac/PC perhaps this will be a cheaper/simpler option?

Bill talks about connecting devices and sharing information between devices. But DRM, patents and closed protocols prevent this dream becoming reality.

If the Internet has been based on closed proprietary protocols then it would never have worked. It is this reason why so much information on the Internet is available to so many people.

the digital decade starts, but without microsoft. Or is it MS that pushes blogs, multimedia sharing (photos, videos), web2.0 applications and development forward ? As far as I can tell, MS is drawn slowely forward by the real challengers; i guess the time for home-pc-in-room-based operating environment (or OS) has passed and considering web applications> is there anyone who things MS's web applications would make it (ever) to top100 ?

* Rob wrote:

I think that it's hard to comment on what MS are trying to do unless you've actually used all the technology (which I think few people have).

I'm lucky enough to own a Media center PC, Xbox 360 and a Standard XP PC. I use my Media center as my main TV, connected to a decent size LCD TV, I stream my recorded and Live TV programmes wirelessly to my Xbox 360 in the bedroom using the media remote to change channels and schedule recordings.

I stream downloaded content (Videos, MP3's, photos) from my XP PC to both my Xbox 360 and Media Center, I can schedule recordings remotely via MSN messenger and everything just WORKS. Easy to set up and easy to keep going - I'm yet to find anything as simple to set up.

What like an apple system? plus you have to worry about virus's ect.

I feel I should respond to Jago's comment. I'm not sure what Apple's iTV service is going to be like so I can't compare it as yet, however, simply installing XP Media Center and a TV card into your pc (approx £150 total) Would give you all the Media features I mentioned before so cost wise it's not really an issue.

What my comment was supposed to emphasise was that the "connected world" that MS offers does work, so long as you put the investment in to realise it's potential. This though is like lots of other things, I'm loath to speak to Sky TV about their HD service because the set top box costs £300 before you even start thinking about additional costs to view the HD channels.

HD downloads will be available via the 360 (and I'm sure via iTV) on a cost per download basis, I think I'd rather pay for what I watch rather than what I don't.

A little dull.....ofcourse .....its Microsoft.....the real fun begins tomorrow at the Macworld SF 2007 with Steve Jobs' keynote.

"... a little dull and clunky."

Hmm, no surprises there. As no. 5 has said, MS are way behind the curve, and should probably stick to their core strengths in the enterprise market which, from a business perspective, is the only real success they've had.

It's technology. Of course it's dull.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty geeky, but to be honest the most exciting thing is how a technology will affect *people*.

And so you need a good salesman to sell it. Mr Gates is a good businessman, not really a salesman. Certainly not the visionary alpha-male vibe that Mr Jobs exudes.

Microsoft always lacked soul. Some say that's fine because it's functional. No, it's not fine. People are what drive us, people are what we are interested in. Life is not processing information, at least not for me. A technology is only exciting when it will change my life, offer me some profound insight, or just be more efficient and allow me to do something new, see a further horizon, build a better dream.

Microsoft: Where do you want to go today?
The best sell: Come, let's explore.

No surprise here and yep, the real inspiration comes with Steve Jobs at Macworld. Somewhere where you can be assured of hearing genuine innovation. After all, Bill Gates hasn't had an original idea in his life.

And while we're at it, it's time Windows was outlawed, before its spam spewing botnets bring the world to a halt. I'm getting tens of 'out of office' emails a day from spam thet is successfully getting through. Thanks a bunch Bill.

Connected world? Whats so great about Media Center being able to connect to a TV? Sony laptops already had hardware built in to do this 3 years ago!... whats great about XBox being able to connect to the internet? Dont Wii and PS do the same? Whats great about being able to stream audio-video media across the room... there are wireless hardware devices in the market from makers like Dlink (got an entire suite of products to do this), NetGear that have enabled this for almost 2 years now.

So what is new from Microsoft? A copied version of existing technology... which miraclously works only with Microsoft products? I am amazed at all this hype over nothing!

Windows Vista... ok... sounds cool... what its main USP? A modified taskbar that displays applications as they are open? An enhanced security model? What about IBMs bluebox that been around for more than 2 years now?! Gimme something new!

'connected experiences' my real issue with the MS proposal is there track record of closed protocols, sure you can buy MCE, XP and an XBOX but if you want the full capability to use these products you have to buy in.

Only recently was it possible to stream video from a different uPnP server (which MS BASED there MCE on) to the XBOX 360. If microsoft want this interconnectivity it will have to be willing to let go on closed or proprietary protocols and embrace open standards (not there best area).

This way when you shop around you know that your products will work and not require a 'ready for Windows' sticker.

None of the 'new' features mentioned in the original article were new at all. (Volume) Shadow Copy cannot be new if this: \%systemroot%\System32\vssvc.exe (Win2K - 1999) is anything to go by. Many freeware products will edit photos easily and put them onto a compliant DVD-R.

Not queueing? Typical. About as disorganised as an MS design team - going on the evidence over the last ten years... The illusion of freedom where only chaos exists?

If MS had something to offer to sweeten the bitter pill of ridiculous DRM oppression, crippled hardware interfaces, and poor design all over, then it might be worth installing (or even paying for) Vista. But IT IS NOT. So don't.
I am a (ADHD) lazy sod, but even I'm going to bother to learn Linux, just to not be part of spreading inequality.
Look up TCPA. How 'innovative'.

Even as someone whose livelihood currently depends on Microsoft, I have to say that I never get the warm fuzzy feelings they try to promote with these propaganda-fests.

They talk a lot and use very important-sounding buzz words, but keep in mind these are the same people who are supporting draconian intellectual property legislation to clamp down on anything that remotely threatens their market dominance.

Sure, they're interested in innovation-- as long as it is them that is doing it! If you create something new that doesn't quite fit into their grand vision (i.e. they're not the ones making money off it), you can certainly expect them to use their swell legal teams to find a way to shut you down.

Interconnectivity is not the same as having every device come from one vendor. We need neutral standards designed to PROMOTE progress, not proprietary technologies backed by companies with the financial clout to artificially hinder it.

I'm getting the distinct impression that poor Darren isn't enjoying his spell in Las Vegas.

There is this undercurrent of "If I were in Shepherds Bush now, I would be in nice orderly queue in the canteen for a cup of tea and a cheese and onion pasty." in this post.

I feel for you. I really do. Your entire time there you are going to be forced to endure hospitality, marketing freebies and PR junkets. If the truth be known the next big thing isn't even in the show.

The real zing, the jolly japes and the truly inspirational probably can't afford the price of a stand and is waiting for their company to be bought out by someone who can.

If you are truly honest about this, how much of the show is about vision and innovation and how much is just an opportunity for the big companies to push product?

I've learnt to be a little kinder to Microsoft users....after all, they have to wait for Apple to invent something before they can copy it.

What makes me laugh sourly is how much of the UK is dedicated to MS products despite the frequency of problems with them and the scale of the problems.

Technology fans like me are really waiting for the specifics of what's next; generally, we've already got a fair idea. Most of us are waiting for the rest of the world to catch up with what we're already familiar with.

True Visionary?

Really? The guy who said in 1995 the web was a fad and MS wouldn't be getting into it? The guy who wrote a book called "The Road Ahead" which had no vision of the internet and he had to add a chapter later so the ridicule would stop? That visionary?

C'mon. Microsoft has never brought a single thing to the "innovative" table. They're good at copying/stealing/marketing but let's stop with the inappropriate accolades.

Is technology industry like a religion? Just the way people look to Bill Gates or Steve Jobs for the next thing. The way in which apple supporters defend apple and criticize PC's and vice versa its almost similar to religious hatred of a particular people group. I like technology I built my own PC but I wouldn't want to take it as far as some people do.

Has anyone noticed how much the latest version of Windows Media Player look like Itunes?

It's hard to believe that mac users believe the things that Steve Jobs says in his speeches. As a user of PC's and Mac's for the last 10+ years it's easy to call him on the lies he tells about windows pc's. He sure gets the mac people pumped up though when he tells them they get some new feature that you can't get on windows (even though you really can). Nothing against macs or mac users, I just don't like shady people like Jobs, but I do like watching his speeches, they are pure comedy.

3/4 of your posting was about the wait, only 1/4 about the content. You are continuing the fine British tradition of finding something to whine about even if it is not the point. As a former Beeb employee, and now a US resident, it distresses me how popularist the beeb has become. Please help lead the way back to journalism based on facts and fine writing.

That is because Bill Gates is a little dull and clunky. Much like his company.

yawn

it stinks of Apple fanboys in here and it's getting pretty boring reading all the anti-microsoft stuff that gets posted in the comments section on blogs such as this and other sites.

If you hate Micrsoft so much, don't use Microsoft products.

What's that? You're using Windows PC's and Microsoft software? why is that? oh, because it's actually pretty good? well there you go.

Apple are a different company doing completely different things. But they exploit people and charge over the odds for their products even more than Microsoft do.

Apple has become 'the man' just as microsoft is 'the man' and maybe all the silly Apple fanboys will get off their high horses sometime soon and realise that they're playing right into Steve Jobs' hands.

Do you think Jobs is a poor man in it to help out the little guy? No, he's out to make as much money as possible just like everyone else.

If people don't like MS products, don't use them. Use Macs instead. But bitching about Microsoft on every forum you can find is completely pointless.

I honestly don't understand why Gates is called a "visionary" by the press... he's a good marketer and a good businessman, but he has never really innovated anything personally, and neither has Microsoft.

If you really look hard enough, his "visions" are mostly really generic stuff about how Microsoft once again plans on playing catch-up with the times, just like when the Internet completely caught them off-guard in the 90s. Lots of smoke and mirrors and very little actual ideas... until some start-up again gets bought off by them or steamrollered by the monopoly's Windows-integrated competitor.

I find it really worrying that MS is trying to get more into home based / car based technology. What happens when you get a virus or blue screen of death which, lets face it, is highly likely.

Also it gets on my goat that MS copies other vendors then claims to be the innovators, purely because it has the financial muscle to implement slick marketing campaigns.

One post mentioned MS copying Apple. This is true. As is the fact that the open source community (Linux / BSD) is often the group that brings us real cutting edge technology (3D desktop / tabbed browsing amongst many others) and vastly superior security.

Finally, another thing that Mr Gates has poo-pooed is the One Laptop Per Child campaign which, in my opinion, has an admirable objective. Is Mr Gates refusal to give this project the respect and accolades it deserves down to the fact that the laptops (costing $100 each) will not be shipped with a MS operating system?

G

Gates Catches Up - Finally

should have been the headline. FYI, since 2003, I have been running a Gentoo Linux server with all my media files - audio, video, the lot. Everything in the house can see it via ftp, ssh, smb and nfs. It does real-time encoding (and we're talking about a P3 here) of any format file into streams small enough for 15fps video on my Zaurus and my new Nokia N80 - both via wifi. In the living room I have a P4 cube - running MythTV on top of Gentoo Linux - that's quite happy streaming (via 54g wifi, again) re-encoded MPEG4 into 720p on my telly.

My newest gadget? The N80. The oldest? The P3 media server and the P4 video cube. Been there, enjoyed it for the last four years and still enjoying it.

Glad Bill & co. are finally catching up.

If Microsoft is as bad as everyone here makes it out to be, then Bill would not be as rich as he is now.

You don't become the world's largest software house by producing rubbish, they must have done something right?

We are just all jealous!

Boy, that is geeky! Glad you can do it on Linux with all those 2 & 3 letter buzz words. I think I can do the same with my Swiss Army Knife, a coil of copper wire and bit of fluff from my back pocket but I can't be bothered.

The Macophiles can keep on leaving slime trails of lust (and a every emptying wallet). I'll continue life on my humble PC just getting on with every day life - and with a TV anywhere to be seen.

ARE YOU CRITICIZING A FUTURE NOBEL PRIZE CANDIDATE AND LAUREATE? YOU MIGHT BE DAMNED, BE WARE OF THAT, HE IS MORE OF A QUEEN ELISABETH OF THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY THAN WE CAN THINK!

Jon T wrote: No surprise here and yep, the real inspiration comes with Steve Jobs at Macworld. Somewhere where you can be assured of hearing genuine innovation.

So remind us, what is the product that Jobs is expected to announce, which the Apple fanboys have been having wet dreams over for months? Oh yes, an integrated mobile phone and media player. How innovative!

What is new about any of this?

What is with the fan culture of the obsesive supporters of either camp, they are there for one purpose, to take your money from you.

Why invest in "new" technology to watch TV - that is what TVs are for!

In no way is Bill Gates a visionary. Anyone who knows anything about the development of Windows prefers to refer to him as the worlds biggest plagiarist. That said you can't take his ruthless business attitude away from him, although the competition bodies have been trying for decades.

If Windows manufactured cars then every single model it made would have to be recalled. Vista will no doubt be another Beta foisted onto the world, and there are more technology lockouts in Vista than in anything before so they clearly weren't listening to the EU courts and learnt nothing from the IExplorer and Media player furore.

At 30: Do us all a favour, pack your machine back in to its delivered box and donate it to the local school.

Your clearly wasted, expressing such remarks, when you cant even identify the 3/4" caps button to the left of your board is bad manners and amusing.

Really, E-education is the future, so it seems! ^^

Actually, I'm quite happy with my Olympia typewriter

Someone said Apple don't have viruses, well PC's either, unless you're a monkey.

Do i sence reading the above coments the mass is moving towards the MAC. Is the penny dropping, Us Mac users for the past ten years and more have seen the revolution coming. Ther is no need for Mac propaganda, Microsoft do not need any support in producing virus ridden, un-reliable, problematic solution to an ageing operating system. First trogen out ther called Virista wins a 1st prise.

PS. had to add this.... Imagine a WAN 40 server, and 4000 Clients (Wireless) on a small island in the Irish Sea, 38 miles long 15 miles wide. How many Engineers to maintain the network, keep the clients all running the same software and updates. If a server should go down it back up and running within an hour. Rather than bore you and go on. take a guess.

20 Engineers, 10 Engineers, or maybe 3 Engineers.

3 Apple Engineers thats all it takes
providing all your servers and clients are Mac.

Come and pay us a visit Darren, you will see why we get so hyped up over Jobs :-)

Steve Jobs - what a visionary, what a salesman!
Not only does he offer us an iPod, but we can also get one with a cellular phone built in too!
Wait a minute... I've been using Windows Mobile 5 for months, now. I can store music, movies and even run my satnav from my phone. I've got WiFi built in to access the web, along with 3G speeds, so:

WHAT EXACTLY IS 'NEW' ABOUT THE IPHONE?!