Microsoft, TCI sign set-top deal
By Jim Davis
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
May 4, 1998, 2:30 p.m. PT
just in After several months of negotiations, Microsoft and Tele-Communications Incorporated have sealed a deal for using Microsoft's operating system software in digital set-top boxes.
The close of the deal was announced by Microsoft chairman and CEO Bill Gates at the National Cable Television Association trade show in Atlanta today, marking the company's official entr‚e into the world of cable set-top boxes.
"We're going to invest literally billions in driving Windows CE to be the same type of standard on these devices as it is on the PC," Gates said at the cable confab.
In January, TCI and Microsoft reached an agreement to use Windows CE in at least 5 million interactive TV set-top boxes but left some terms of the arrangement open to discussion. These boxes, currently simple devices, would gain advanced features such as video on demand, email service, and Internet browsing. Cable operators are eager to add these services in order to gain new sources of revenue.
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