John, re:Good post and point. Rather than "slug it out" I think they want the TV folks as
customers. Set top boxes, in my opinion, are a stop gap product to speed
implementation, I think these functions will eventually be included in the "TV". The ones
who will slug it out are the PC makers vs. the TV makers, unfortunatly the TV guys
have many more years of marketing expertise.
IMO, you might want to include the cable cos. as customers. From what I've been hearing, Internet access into the home via cable modems is picking up steam, and 1998 might be an "inflection point". Telephone cos. are worried that ISDN and xDSL will not reach the critical mass and will be overwelmed by cable. Everyone I know who has cable modems is extremely pleased with perf./service/etc. I don't want to argue the merits of cable modems/ISDN/xDSL now, but the point I want to make is that availability of cable modems fits in extremely well with this notion of a set-top box bringing both TV/Internet access. Video (along with text, voice) becomes available via cable modems, whereas it is difficult at best to bring video into the home with analog modems, ISDN, xDSL, etc. Andy, Msft. should be pushing the cable modem harder, imo.
joey |
