PCs in the living room
NPR's Morning Edition had a story this morning on the convergence of the personal computer and home entertainment, as evidenced by PC makers such as Dell, H-P and Gateway expanding into the world of consumer electronics devices, in addition to making PCs running Microsoft's Windows Media Center edition. A few quotes from the story:
John Hamlin, GM of Dell's U.S. consumer business: "We really see our average, or mainstream, customer buying the PC with media and home entertainment in mind, not just e-mail or not just Internet or spreadsheets."
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Roger McNamee: "I am not a believer that we are each going to have a PC server in our living room and run all these things off a PC. The personal computer user interface is just too hard for most people to work with."
NPR technology correspondent John McChesney: "In the end, though, it probably doesn’t matter whether or not the PC eventually rules the living room. What matters is that the consumer electronics industry is suddenly alive with major new competitors selling all kinds of standalone devices."
Access the online audio here.
Posted by Todd Bishop at December 17, 2003 10:29 AM
roger is right, the pc interface is just too hard. but my gosh, i now have hdtv with a pvr (for non-hd channels) and a dvd player and a home theater amp and a game player and a media receiver and a vcr, and the aggregate user interface across all these non-pc devices is WAY too hard. if a pc can integrate most of these in a consistent fashion, it may actually end up being the easiest way to do it all.
