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Technology Stocks : Winstar Comm. (WCII) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SteveG who wrote (3364)	1/12/1998 12:11:00 AM
From: SteveG	Respond to of 12468

<A> (More MSFT) Microsoft Strikes Deals With TCI, Motorola For Windows CE By Mark Boslet LAS VEGAS (Dow Jones)--Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates touted his efforts to put Windows CE in a new generation of small computing devices, unveiling agreements with Motorola Inc. (MOT) and Tele-Communications Inc. (TCOMA) at a tradeshow here. During a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show, Gates said TCI would use Windows CE, a scaled down version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, in five million new set-top boxes to be attached to the televisions of TCI's cable customers. Sun Microsystems Inc.'s (SUNW) Java technology will be in only the higher-end set-top boxes, but Windows CE will be in all of them, Gate said. Sun on Friday at the CES show pre-empted Microsoft by announcing its deal to supply Personal Java to TCI, which plans ultimately to build up to 12 million of the boxes that would bring Internet-like functionality to the cable network. Gates, however, didn't announce the $1 billion investment in TCI that some industry observers expected. Nevertheless, he said the arrangement is a "major milestone" for Windows CE and includes technology from Microsoft's Web TV Internet surfing platform as well as support for the HD0 TV format for high-definition television. In an agreement with Motorola, Microsoft's chief told a packed auditorium he would put Motorola's Flex wireless communications technology in Windows CE. The two companies plan to develop software that will enable Windows CE devices, such as handheld computers and intelligent phones, to receive and eventually transmit data over paging networks that rely on Flex. The arrangement has the "potential for spectacular new applications," said Motorola Chief Executive Christopher Galvin, during an appearance at the Gates address. What's missing from small devices is a way of connecting from anywhere at anytime, Gates added. The address from the technology industry's most closely watched pundit once more illustrates how Microsoft's PC-centric view of the future has softened in the past year or so, in part as the popularity of alternative devices to connect on line has grown. Microsoft's own Web TV is an example of this trend, with the company saying at the show that with the help of a $100 pre-Christmas rebate it now has 250,000 subscribers. Sixty-five percent of those users don't have PCs, Gates said. Web TV plans to launch service in Japan before next Christmas. Also of note is that 500,000 handheld computers running Windows CE and initially built by Philips Electronics NV (PHG) have been sold since the product was launched last year. What's more, Microsoft promised to ship by the end of the year an Auto PC, a stereo sized device that uses voice-recognition technology to enable a driver to communicate with his or her car. The product, to be made by Clarion, is to allow a driver to check e-mail or find directions with voice commands. "I don't believe the personal computer will be the only tool of the information age," Gates said. With these new devices, "the consumer electronics industry is going to enter a phase of excellent growth." But Gates was careful to point out that several key technologies will not emerge overnight. It will be three to five years before the industry perfects speech-recognition and handwriting technologies, he said. Further, the age of digital TV has not started yet, he said.