Entertainment World Wary of Microsoft Technology
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CinemaNow Inc., the Internet-based movie service, is a rarity in Hollywood - a company that eagerly embraces Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) technology and relies on it exclusively to transmit, protect and display the movies it rents to customers...
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With more than 2,000 consumer electronics companies fighting for the attention of 140,000 attendees at International CES, the competition to get noticed is fierce. Companies will parade their newest and hottest products and promise starry-eyed consumers and journalists imminent release dates for their gadgets, while the more daring keynote speakers give their predictions for the year ahead. Sometimes they&#39;re spot-on -- but other times they&#39;re way off the mark, as this&#160;look back at the class of 2007&#160;shows.The show kicked off in a big way with the&#160;unveiling by Sharp of its monster 108-inch LCD&#160;(liquid crystal display) TV. The set represented the biggest flat-panel TV developed -- a title it still holds today -- and came without a price but with the promise of availability during 2007. But wealthy consumers are still waiting. Sharp said recently that it is still working on plans for a commercial launch for the TV set.There was a lot of noise at the show about both&#160;Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. The battling high-definition video disc camps both claimed an advantage over the other and asserted that 2007 would be break-out year when their respective format left the rival in the dust. A year on and not much has changed. Consumer indifference and confusion over the formats has led many to stay away, while prices have collapsed leaving some wondering if any of the participants will ever be able to make money on either technology.One man who called the status quo was H.G. Lee, president of LG Electronics. Speaking at a news conference where he unveiled a&#160;dual-format machine from LG&#160;he predicted that both formats would be around for a good while longer and observed, &quot;The growth of this exciting new technology and industry is slower than it could be.&quot; So top marks to Lee, but that&#39;s perhaps not much consolation. While he was right about the immediate future of both formats, his company&#39;s relatively expensive dual-format player wasn&#39;t the hit he hoped.LG wasn&#39;t the only company trying to solve the format battle.&#160;Warner Bros. introduced its Total Hi Def disc&#160;that has a Blu-ray Disc layer on one side and an HD DVD layer on the other. The disc generated a lot of excitement because it would insulate consumers from the risks of backing the wrong format -- so it was a disappointment when Warner threw in the towel on the format before the year was out.CES often serves as a launch pad for new technologies. The results were mixed for two of those shown at CES 2007.Samsung came to CES 2007 with&#160;A-VSB, a mobile digital TV broadcasting system&#160;that offers a robust signal and fewer drop-outs to receivers on the move, and comes with a low installation price tag of a few tens of thousands of dollars per TV station. A-VSB also came with an aggressive roll-out schedule that would have put it on-air by the end of 2007 -- but as the year turns there&#39;s still no sign of commercial service.Things weren&#39;t so bad for Sony. It wowed visitors with prototype TVs based on new OLED (organic light emitting diode) screens. With a bright, rich and dynamic picture they were among the highlights of the show. Sony made good on its commercialization plans and put the set on sale in Japan on Dec. 1, where it sold out almost immediately despite the &#165;200,000 price tag. Sony is expected to unveil U.S. launch plans at CES 2008.With CES 2008 only days away now, the class of 2008 are putting the finishing touches to their announcements, predictions, and promises. The show is continuing to grow, so companies will need to make a bigger splash to catch the attention of attendees and media: In a year from now we&#39;ll know who stuck their necks out too far in the race to claim the CES headlines.&#160;
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Microsoft Corp  has cemented its reputation among hardcore gamers with the launch of alien shoot-out "Halo 3," but it is still struggling to attract the mass market audience that has flocked to Nintendo Co Ltd's  Wii console.
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Top Microsoft execs Craig Mundie and Gates tell the confab that a wired, mobile world poses further security challenges.
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Companies that make playback software say cutting-edge CPU is required--and even that may not be enough.
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(InfoWorld) - Web music stores have taken off with such gusto that now everyone wants to get in on the online media action, and the next battle ground is the digital movies and TV shows aimed at your living room. What users need to beware of amid the headlong rush to build digital music, movie and TV libraries is the terms of the digital rights management (DRM) attached to the files they're buying, which control the use of the files in various ways, including by restricting usage to a certain number of devices. DRM technology was developed to protect the music industry from illegal downloads, but it can also lock users into choosing one device, or family of devices. The fight may appear to have just started, but with portable media players such as the iPod so dominant, and their new appeal as view screens for downloaded movies and TV shows, its a decision users will have to make quickly. The time will soon come when it will be too expensive for a user to switch from, say Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod/iTunes/iTV platform to a rival platform because the DRM would ensure they have to buy a whole new music and movie collection. A future where users are stuck in one company's back pocket could be avoided if DRM licenses are broadly shared. But DRM appears to be on the verge of becoming a weapon to lock users in. "We see no consolidation of formats in the foreseeable future. It is Fairplay and Windows Media DRM for now and that may not change although the jury is still out on video as we are early on in the game for video. For audio the game is over," said Van Baker, vice president of media industry research for Gartner Inc. Fairplay is Apple Computer Inc.'s DRM technology. Songs purchased at the iTunes Store, for example, are meant to be used on only two devices, such as a computer and an iPod, and Fairplay helps enforce such rules. Microsoft Corp. has its own Windows Media DRM, which isn't compatible with Fairplay, so users, for example, cannot use Windows Media files on their iPods. And while Microsoft has been far more open to licensing its DRM than Apple, even creating a PlaysForSure logo to let users know which devices and files are compatible with Windows Media files, it may change its tune regarding such licenses. The company's new Zune media player is not compatible with PlaysForSure. That fact alone highlights how important Microsoft must view the Zune and Zune Marketplace, because in one fell swoop, it became a competitor to online music store partners and to PC and mobile phone makers that sell rival digital music devices. RealNetworks Inc. and Sandisk Corp. also joined the fray recently, highlighting the tight-fisted approach companies are taking. Users buying a Sandisk Sansa e200 series portable music player get RealNetwork's Rhapsody media service bundled inside, and a chance to pay a monthly subscription for music downloads. But if users cancel the subscription, the next time they connect to the Internet, Rhapsody will delete the songs from the music player and their PCs. Individual songs purchased on Rhapsody won't be deleted in such an instance, but since the songs will be tagged with RealNetworks' Helix DRM, users will have to make sure any new music playing software or hardware they buy supports Helix. The question of technology companies controlling the content users buy so enraged the French government that in June, it passed a law requiring companies to provide enough information about their DRM technology to enable competitors to create interoperable systems. There is also an industry group that could play knight in shining armor. The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), which boasts hundreds of tech companies, including heavyweights such as Intel Corp., Sony Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Lenovo Group Ltd., is working to select and promote an industry standard DRM to ensure digital files can be used on a wide range of devices companies make. Others are also hard at work on the issue, including groups intent on creating open-source DRM technologies, as well as hackers already figuring out ways to beat DRM. In the thick of what will likely end up a promotion and marketing fight, users will have to keep their heads about them and make up their minds. It could be wise to sit out this round of DRM controversy and wait to see which standard wins out, or to stick to traditional media and create digital files by ripping songs from CDs, for example. But it's definitely a time to pay attention. Nobody wants to build a library of favorite movies and songs, only to find that by switching to another computer or software makes it unusable. Â
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PARIS - IT industry watchers and legal observers were skeptical Wednesday of the significance of a ruling by a European court that MicrosoftÂ must comply with antitrust remedies imposed by the European Commission. Analysts doubted the power of the remedies to achieve their stated goal of boosting competition in two key software markets: workgroup servers and media players.
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TELEVISION has been something of a great white whale for the Microsoft Corporation. The company has tried to sell WebTV and build software for TV&#39;s and cable boxes.
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A legal row over software ownership could hinder Microsoft&#39;s ability to offer products based on technology from its latest acquisition, anti-spyware company Giant Company Software.
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Trojan horses are piggybacking on an antipiracy feature in Media Player, a security firm claims. But Microsoft denies it's a flaw.
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BERLIN While competitors hailed a European judge&#39;s decision to force Microsoft to sell a stripped-down version of its Windows computer operating software without a media player, analysts said European consumers may be less than pleased.
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Tuesday, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) announced a strategy of bringing digital entertainment to users in the home, at the office, or on the go.
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Computer security firms are complaining that a feature in MicrosoftÂs new operating system would cripple their industryÂs innovation.
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If the video game industry is beginning to rake in revenue that rivals the movie industry, it&#39;s also beginning to accumulate Hollywood-like headaches.
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Blu-ray may have taken a commanding lead in the next-generation format war, but the company has a big problem looming with outdated players.
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The full power of the Microsoft brand will be behind the launch of the Zune media player Nov. 14, and Apple has reason to be afraid.
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LOS ANGELES  - Bill Gates predicts a  future for the entertainment industry in which traditional  broadcast television is rendered irrelevant. It's a positive  vision, however, because new and better business models made  possible by technology are emerging.