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To: DiViT who wrote (28692)	1/24/1998 5:33:00 PM
From: Scotsman	Respond to of 50808

The company I work for does a lot of business in China and Asia. We even managed to break into Japan. Although we are in basic industry, I can tell you for now that the Tiger countries are really hurting,and we don't anticipate any business there. But Korea and Japan look pretty good, but not great like they were. China is booming, and so far it appears they will continue to do so. It appears that the major reason for this is that, in our case at least, China is almost a 1005 internal market, and that market is expanding internally. Since they don't export, they don't see the impact. And if Asian products get cheap, goody for them. Their market is huge and they don't have a lot of manufacturing oversuppy yet. So thats good, at least for now.

To: DiViT who wrote (28692)	1/25/1998 12:39:00 PM
From: CPAMarty	Respond to of 50808

Java, Windows Battle Hits Set-Tops By Peter Lambert and Joe McGarvey January 23, 1998 2:13pm Inter@ctive Week zdii.com Developers of applications that will run on televisions powered by digital set-top devices will apparently not be spared from the prickly Windows vs. Java debate that is dividing the Internet and enterprise development communities. The recent move by cable operator Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) to license both Windows CE, the consumer version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, and PersonalJava, a subset of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java programming language for consumer devices, essentially extends the hotly debated issue from the vast corridors of cyberspace to the tiny confines of a set-top box. "It's a strategic decision to ensure that developers have a choice of what platform they choose to write for," says Ron Rappaport, an analyst at Zona Research Inc., referring to TCI's (www.tci.com) decision to license both Microsoft's and Sun's technology on back-to-back days earlier this month. Long before developers will be able to finalize their application plans for the next-generation set-top boxes, which are not expected to be available from NextLevel Systems Inc. (www. nextlevel.com) until the end of this year or early in 1999, several issues regarding the roles that Windows CE and Java will play still have to be worked out. Will Windows CE and PersonalJava be paired together on the same box, with Windows acting as the operating system and Java providing the application environment for programs that meld Web content and television programming? Will PersonalJava be coupled with another operating system, such as DAVID from Microware Systems Corp. (www.microware.com)? Or will Windows CE eventually be comprehensive enough to act as both the operating system and the application environment? "It's anyone's guess at this point, because so many of the specifics have yet to be ironed out," says Cynthia Brumfield, an analyst at Paul Kagan Associates. Even TCI's David Beddow, senior vice president at TCI Ventures and lead designer of TCI's set-top strategy, acknowledges that "hundreds of decisions" still have to be made regarding the final design of the set-top box. Some details of the planned deployment of the set-top boxes, however, can be gleaned from the agreements that TCI has entered with Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) and Sun (www.sun.com). According to the Microsoft contract, TCI has licensed Windows CE and display technology from Microsoft subsidiary WebTV Networks Inc. to run on the first 5 million boxes TCI deploys. WebTV is a television-based online service acquired by Microsoft last year. The contract with Sun obligates TCI to deploy PersonalJava technology in all boxes that incorporate at least 4 megabytes of flash memory and 8 megabytes of random access memory, which Beddow characterizes as the minimum requirements for running PersonalJava. The importance of the software ingredients that make up a set-top box is dependent on the types of applications that will be running on the devices, says Richard Doherty, an analyst at the Envisioneering research firm. Curtis Sasaki, a group product manager at Sun's JavaSoft division, says PersonalJava will be an essential component of any set-top environment because it enables cable operators to comply with the intent of the OpenCable specification proposed by the Cable Television Laboratories Inc., calling for an operating and application environment that is compatible with devices from different manufacturers. Including Java in the design ensures developers that applications written for Java will run on set-top boxes regardless of the underlying operating system or even the hardware components that make up the devices, Sasaki says. "PersonalJava provides all the glue that allows software developers to write to one API [Application Programming Interface] specification," says Sasaki, who adds that TCI has indicated that Windows CE is just one of the operating systems that will be used for its set-top boxes. The Set-Top Box Setup Software/Hardware LayersFunctionSupplierCable digital video and Internet network interfaceDelivers high-speed Internet and digital client-server video services, software programs and content downloadsCable programmers and online service providersSet-top applications run-time software, or virtual machineExecutes network-distributed applications (regardless of operating system or hardware type)Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc.Set-top operating system softwareTranslates application requirements to execution by hardwareMicrosoft Windows CE and WebTV Networks Inc.Set-top hardwareCentral processor and coprocessors to execute applicationsNextLevel Systems Inc. and Sony Electronics Inc. Source: Inter@ctive Week