Microsoft opens Windows to the home

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Just one big money making scam: Very few that I know want a Media Center machine. Why? It's not very flexable and it's expensive. Although TiVo HMO service needs work, the theory of distributing is correct. Centralize your home network and then have access points throughout your house.

Here's what the industry needs. Stability and security of the OS are important but it will never happen when you also want full flexabilty whether it's MS or Linux. A workstation with "removable RAID-1" so you can't loose data due to a hard drive or OS crash is essential. I say removable because it makes upgrades easier and it is portable in a sense. This RAID system needs to be traditional IDE/SCSI drives for now but can be in FLASH form in the future as they already have working prototypes that are 1TB in size. Less moving parts, less chance of failure. If files are cached, the drive access speed will not be the bottleneck with current home networks.

Many of the appliances coming out now only stream basic A/V functions with a simple GUI. I think a simple GUI is extreemely important but you need more. My suggestion is to make this appliances have a nice GUI to them but also allow you to navigate the centralized box. What I mean by this is simular to a PCAnywhere/VNC approach that also acts as a KVMS extendor (S is for sound). With wireless keyboards, mice and remotes this is all we really need in the living room / bed room areas to do all functions of the PC in those areas. Other rooms you will just want music distribution so a simpler appliance will be needed.

So why is this never gonna happen? Easy, it would simplify things too much and save money for the consumer over time. If you have appliances like this, you will not need extra machines that will need an upgrade every 2 or 3 years. You'll simply have one centralized box that will need upgrades with terminal-like devices that will attach to it via IP.; Posted by: manielse@... Posted on: 10/12/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use