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Message: Intel, MS take another shot at entertainment PC

Intel, MS take another shot at entertainment PC

posted on Aug 26, 2005 02:41PM
Intel, MS take another shot at entertainment PC

Mike Clendenin

EE Times

(08/26/2005 3:23 PM EDT)

SAN FRANCISCO — Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. will take another shot at the long-awaited “convergence” market early next year with a new kind of entertainment PC.

So far, entertainment and the PC haven’t been a successful fit. But Intel said it would overcome the many false starts suffered by the industry in winning a slot in home-entertainment systems by releasing a platform reference design to drive adoption, similar to what it did with Centrino.

Dubbed Viiv (rhymes with “five”), the technology is supposed to enable a new class of home PCs equipped with digital entertainment and TV-like capabilities.

To propel Viiv, Intel also unveiled a small concept PC called Golden Gate based on Intel’s next-generation, dual-core processor, code-named Yonah. The Golden Gate concept PC can run high-definition videos or display lifelike gaming images, and fits right inside a TV entertainment rack.

During a keynote address at the Intel Developer Forum here, where the company rolled out Viiv, Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said, “It’s fair to say that the industry has talked about this kind of transition before, and that it was happening or about to happen for many, many years. I think the difference today is there are a number of key pieces that are finally coming together to enable this transition to happen.”

At the same time, however, Intel and other companies discussed the many challenges such convergence technology faces, including device interoperability and quality-of-service (QoS) schemes among different networks, such as wireless fidelity or home power lines.

Ease of use was also a major theme. Intel rolled out its psychologists and anthropologists in an effort to convey its views on what users really want: simplicity.

``Really,” said Jon Peddie, of Jon Peddie Research, “the digital home is at the early-adopter and techno-savvy stage. Wireless is not as easy as turning on a wall switch, although Intel would like us to believe it is. Things don’t plug and play,``he added. ``It’s a zoo.”

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