Microsoft Targets TVs in Latest Move Off Desktop
Thu January 8, 2004 12:19 AM ET
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By Ben Berkowitz
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp unveiled products on Wednesday that will allow TVs anywhere in the home to access video, music and photos stored on personal computers, in its latest effort to push its software beyond the desktop.
It also announced the delayed launch of wristwatches that collect data via radio, demonstrated a year ago as part of Microsoft's same effort to find new avenues of growth.
As PC makers begin to move beyond computing and into traditional electronics like televisions, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said his company was committed to the same push, with products for home entertainment and media management.
In his annual address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Gates demonstrated his plan for "seamless computing" with products that connect to or synchronize with PC hardware or Microsoft software.
Gates said Microsoft will unveil products later this year that will allow TV viewers to access live and recorded TV programs, music files, digital photos and other media stored on their PCs.
"Ease of use can be better if the software does it right," Gates said. "These scenarios demand all of these advances work together."
Called Media Center Extender, the new software package will provide up to five televisions remote access to PCs running the company's Windows XP Media Center Edition.
The software supports the copyright protection system known as digital rights management, so users can order media directly from Internet-based subscription services like Movielink via a TV, Gates said.
BUILT INTO TVS
Both Hewlett-Packard Co. and Gateway Inc. will build televisions with the software and wireless networking hardware built in. In addition, HP, Gateway, Dell Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will offer set-top boxes running the platform.
Gates said Microsoft will also release an adapter kit for its Xbox video game console that includes the software, a DVD adapter and a remote control. Priced at less than $60, the kit will turn the Xbox into a media adapter for any television set.
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