 Seattle, May 6, 2004 – As WinHEC evolves one of the speakers even said it loud. The year 2004 is the year of Windows XP Media Center. Right now there is a lot of focus on great video quality. The big reason for that is that there must be added value to purchase a $1000 Media Center PC instead of a $100 DVD player to play DVD’s. This really means that Media Center must also be capable of delivering great quality TV content. Since this device is targeted at a large consumer market the first impressions of end users are essential. Along with rising popularity of Media Center PC’s there will be a big demand for accompanying devices as well. Think alone about great quality graphics cards and mass storage devices. Especially since WMC has video recording capabilities. To record 1 hour of video in HD quality will require 9 GByte of storage space, so WMC will be a great driver for TByte drives or beyond. Some real added value can actually be found in an area where we not expect it. With WMC there is only need for one remote control. Today there are more remote controls in the United States than people so there is a lot of room for improvement there. WMC should really be looked at as an “all-in-one” entertainment center. Beyond AV quality the possibility to have seamless media everywhere in the house is a key demand. Eventually it will be common to use the PC in a whole new way. Drivers for that are not only the hardware and software vendors, but also the content providers. Right now, TV networks are looking into real interactive TV. Imagine watching a TV program that gives URL’s to background information, or imagine watching movies on DVD that have applications available as well to expand the experience. It seems that WMC is a product at the right place on the right time.
Of course, also the software looks right. Very important from a user’s perspective is ease of use, and with the new 10 feet UI it is definitely intuitive and easy to control WMC. I truly do believe that my mom can control it and that is the key to success. If it can only be controlled by geeks like myself, the product would be a failure but they really seem to have it right and it didn’t even take three different versions, something we are so used to with Windows releases. The product exists for two years now and was really well received by the market and the press. The latest version, that is about to be released will push demand even further. Looking at demo’s I have to say that I can’t wait to have one of these devices in my living room, or perhaps, have a big home server somewhere in the house and use Windows Media Center extensions to bring all content and all PC processing power everywhere in the house.
Moving on again to XML Web Services for devices, it would be easy to think of this connecting technique as something that can be easily incorporated in WMC systems as well. Let’s begin with a usable definition of a Web Service. A Web Service is a singularity of wire protocols for all network connected devices and services. As I already mentioned in yesterday’s WinHEC summary, it is extremely easy for an end user to connect devices to systems using XML Web Services. Without the need to have different cables for different devices (after all, cables suck, especially in the home environment) and without the need to open the box or go through the painful operation of having to install device drivers, it really becomes a pleasure to add new devices to systems. Translating that back to WMC and its high demand for storage devices, it would just be great to be able to add more storage on the fly, but also, to take my portable storage box with me to friends if I want them to watch my recorded videos. Using XML Web Services for devices, coupling will no longer be tight but it will be loose. Making use of a wireless 802.11x network there is not even a need for any cable except for maybe a power supply cable. Surely, there is work to do, but in the end it should be possible to add devices to a system and to remove them again without the system becoming instable. The integrated discovery and installation services make almost silent installation of recognized devices possible. The only thing that the user has to provide is some sort of a password, because devices will broadcast their presence over the network, and of course nobody wants their neighbors to be able to make use of the just purchased printer. To be able to take advantage of XML Web Services for Devices need to provide support for a few Web Service protocols, mainly WS-Discovery and WS-Eventing. The idea is simply brilliant. Instead of looking at a device as a physical entity, it will be looked at as just another service and isn’t that exactly what a device should be. There might also be lots of added value. Think about a printer that already has the possibility to communicate to a system via Web Services. That same printer can take advantage of that. In case of a low toner situation for instance it can be the printer itself, ordering toner at let’s say the nearest Office Depot. Eventually this can all be done without user intervention, using one generic set of protocols. Are we ready for this sort of self maintaining systems? Only time will tell, although I believe we are. Since people are getting busier and busier no one wants to spent valuable time writing down serial numbers, driving to Office Depot and buying that toner ourselves. The printer knows bests what it needs. Science Fiction? No way, technically all of this is possible. |
