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Thread: Tech Update - The future is coming!

  1. #1
    AntiOnline Senior Member
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    Post Tech Update - The future is coming!

    This is an interesting article featured on Zdnet.com on stuff I would consider way into the future. The only problem now is worrying about your TV crashing.

    Taken from http://netscape.com.com/2100-1104-938110.html?type=pt

    Microsoft tests home-network PC

    Microsoft has shipped an early trial version of "Freestyle"--its new entertainment-centric PC design--to some beta testers, a company representative confirmed Thursday.
    PCs equipped with a remote control and an early, pre-beta release of the Freestyle software were sent to a small group of testers that have been accepted into the Freestyle beta program, said Jodie Cadieux, marketing manager for Microsoft's eHome division. She said comments from the advance test will help decide the nature and release date of a full beta version of Freestyle.

    Announced early this year at the Consumer Electronics Show, Freestyle is a part of Microsoft's eHome strategy to shift personal computing to the living room. PCs equipped with Freestyle software and hardware add-ons would act as a digital entertainment jukebox, distributing music, video and photos throughout a networked home.

    Initial incarnations of Freestyle--expected to go on sale by the end of this year--will be much more modest, however. The early version will be similar to current PCs, but with a remote control and a somewhat redesigned user interface to make it easier to access certain functions from a couch.

    Some analysts have said that for Freestyle to catch on with consumers, it will need to be combined with Mira, Microsoft's design for touch-screen wireless monitors that can access PC functions from anywhere in the home.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member
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    Oh no!!! It's a nightmare!

    2 or 3 years ago Microsoft wanted to implent Windows in cars and some people laughted we would have to use the start menu to stop our car.
    But, for me, a house comanded by Windows could only be a good horror movie subject.
    Life is boring. Play NetHack... --more--

  3. #3
    Member
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    I didn't even read your post, you spooked the crap out of me.... The Future is coming...

  4. #4
    Will the house go crazy and slaughter all inside? What if windows crashed? Do the people then have to starve to death. Watch that ice cube maker in the fridge never work again. I really hope some japanese company just comes out with something faster and makes microsoft's work useless, hehe.

  5. #5
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    yeah you have a complete freeze and everything in the house locks down... the air starts to fade.... then you black out... it'd be the new black screen of death but this time it's all you'll see from then on!!!! Death to windows. actually I have lots of windows in my house, it'd just be another one to break :-)

  6. #6
    Old-Fogey:Addicts founder Terr's Avatar
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    It's very interesting that *cough* Found to be Monopolistic in court of law *cough* Microsoft seems to be spreading it's tentacles.
    [HvC]Terr: L33T Technical Proficiency

  7. #7
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    Not much information there. But it isn't surprising. There are quite a few ppl now using their PC as the hub for their entertainment. Watch movies on their TV, which is playing off of their HD. Play music on their computer, which is linked to their HI-FI stereo.

    And of course, the home LAN.
    ----------------------------------
    This isn't the future. It is already here. You just need to take the initiative, and implement it yourself.
    So what exactly does this "Freestyle" do, that we aren't doing already?
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  8. #8
    Its all an evil plot of Microsoft to take over our homes. Beware they are only in our computers now, but they are spreading.

  9. #9
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    Did you forget the Xbox? They are already spreading.
    savIRC :: The Multi-Platform IRC Client v. 1.8 [Released 9.04.02]

  10. #10
    Hell, this dosn'e surprise me at all. I already use my palm pilot to operate my TV, VCR, DVD, Stereo, Garage Door, Inerface with my computer, cell phone, ect.. Its only at matter of time till everything we have will be, in some way, influenced by computers.

    Of course the artice also sounds like Microcarp is trying to resell Web TV to everyone after it bombed big time. Oh well

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