] COMMENTARY--Microsoft this week showed off a new "TV
] client" for Windows XP Media Center Edition, which allows
] content stored on a Media Center PC to be shown on, and
] remotely controlled by, a television set. The problem is
] that the demonstration raised more questions than it
] answers.
]
] The show-and-tell took place at the Windows Hardware
] Engineering Conference (aka WinHEC) in New Orleans.
] WinHEC is where Microsoft tries to woo, cajole, and/or
] arm-twist vendors into building hardware to its liking.
] For the most part, I think this is a good thing--everyone
] benefits from the standardisation that results. (Unless,
] of course, you have a standard Microsoft doesn't care
] for.)
]
] The idea behind the TV client is that, while one person
] is using it to watch a TV program or play music stored on
] a Media Center PC, someone else can be simultaneously
] running a PC app. (This will depend on the concurrent
] session technology also disclosed at WinHEC.)
]
] Microsoft hopes hardware companies, especially those on
] the consumer electronics side of the aisle, will adopt
] its TV client and begin building hardware for it by the
] end of next year; it's possible the first units could be
] out as early as next spring.