Sony and AOL vs Microsoft

jadrien writes "As the war for the common denominator access platform continues, the only two players that scare Microsoft team up. This story on CNET news.com details some of the forthcoming collaborations, including keyboard, monitor, mouse, and mozilla." Yes thats right kids, AOL is coming to your PS/2.

Comments

Hey, wait...

[cluening]

My PS/2 is a Model 55/SX from about 1988 or so. It has 4 meg of memory and runs at 16 MHz. It also powers my fishcam. When I got ahold of it it had Win3.1 on it, and might have even had AOL on it already (I don't recall...). So HA! My PS/2 already has AOL!

(Oh, wait. Maybe that isn't what he meant...)

Wow

[NMerriam]

Geez, I should get a consulting fee or something at least.

Slashdot -- News for Nerds, Business Plans for Corporations.

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Why Sony?

[Mike Schiraldi]

Why doesn't AOL team up with Apple? Or merge with them? With both of them, their claim to fame (or, in the case of Apple, their claim to mediocrity) was one word: "easy". Make things easy. I think there could be some slick network appliances if the two worked together.

--

Re:Why Sony?

[Auckerman]

"Why doesn't AOL team up with Apple?"

Apple's whole corporate image relies on making the customer feel like Apple helps them express themselves, with out the hardware/software technical issues getting in the way.

AOL's whole image is about making you think the Internet is a terrible complicated world of Porn, Violence, and Evil "Free Thinkers" that you have to be protected from.

Apple tries to make you feel smart, AOL reaffirms your belief in your own stupidity. Two mutually exclusive ways of treating a customer.

Consumer electronics suck.

[double_h]

Additional hardware including a hard-disk drive, liquid-crystal display (LCD), keyboard and mouse will be offered to help customers access the new features.

Note that the monitor being discussed is a special LCD monitor, and not a standard VGA hookup. Why? Because the PS2 is a DVD player, and the DVD Consortium has apparently dictated that DVD players aren't allowed to output an RGB signal, because Macrovision only works along a composite signal path.

Reservoir Zig

Re:Consumer electronics suck.

[pcosta]

Wrong. The DVD consortium agreed to let progressive DVD output a Macrovision free signal, simply because Macrovision won't work on a progressive output (besides, there are no consumer devices that can record a progressive signal anyway). The PS2 has a component cable already (I use it to connect to my TV) and will have a VGA cable when the Linux kit is released.

Sounds like a good idea to me

[miracle69]

Since the PS/2 is a loss-leader in the hardware dept (the money is made on games) - I'm all for giving it basic internet functionality. Give me a wireless keyboard and mouse, an internet enabled PS/2, and a nice 50 inch HDTV, and I'll be cooking with grease!

That's what these companies realize. HDTV has monitor-like resolutions. And hell, why should I spend 2k for a 24 inch LCD (price pulled outta my ass - with left hand) when I can spend the same amount for a nice 50 inch 16:9 HDTV that will show me DVDs *and* be my computer monitor.

Hell, I could watch the National Kickball Tournament[1] on 1/2 of the screen and surf on the second 1/2. I'd be happier than pigs in mud.

[1] When was the last time you used "Kickball" in a sentence?

HI Mom!

PS/2 and MP3

[Monte]

Imagine what this could do if Sony opens up it's music IP for access over the PS/2. Of course there'd be no way to save the music (short of analog-recording from yer TV), but turning your game console into an on-demand jukebox might make it look pretty sweet to the consumer.

Does the PS/2 have an ethernet port option?

Oh, come on -- what did you expect?

[Hnice]

Don't get me wrong -- I'm as creeped out as anyone -- last i checked, there are only like six companies left in the world, and they own all of the information, delivery infrastructure, and platforms, right? AOL and Sony -- esp when you consider that AOL/TW already has its own gigantic content base, and Sony already has one, and, well, that's got to be a sizable percentage of available viewing/listening/playing material under one (loosely-knit) roof.

But I'd like to cut short any 'omigod, it's the corporate newworldorder supermegahyperconglomerate that's evil and will probably outlaw mp3, free speech, and free beer' talk. What, is Sony going to go with my local isp? Are they going to predispose their console to play well with Prodigy? Come on -- this just makes sense. For their box to compete with XBox, they need a standard, simple, widely-accepted, powerful brand as their internet access tool. AOL has like 90 % of the universe, probably including your mom, so condescend all you want, this was a no-brainer.

So, again, don't get me wrong, every time something like this happens, it feels a little dirty, but if you believe that computers and consoles are becoming more and more alike, you believe that AOL must partner with a console manufacturer. XBox is out of the question, cause of MSN, and the gamecube is out, because Nintendo doesn't play well with 3d parties. So Sony it is. This is just another OEM deal, like Dell or Gateway or anything else. It would have been hopelessly naive to suppose that consoles would remain immune to the AOL invasion just because they sit under our tvs -- they've got hard-drives(well, ok, maybe by end of year), they'll have modems (someday), they're fair game.

Obligatory zealot blurb

[Steeltoe]

That's an outright lie! Mozilla is not slow at all. Why on my 1.5 GHz Cryotech Athlon with 2Gb RAM and overclocked to 1.98 Ghz I notice no difference than any other browser. If you were a techie like me, you wouldn't fall for stupid adverts from Intel that says Pentium III will make your internet faster! That's impossible. Just remember to run the nightbuilds and you'll be allright.

(Posted anonymously because I'm scared about losing my karma point.)

- Steeltoe

Don't know which is worse

[Christianfreak]

While I can see this putting a real dent in M$ofts bottom line, Which is worse? AOL evil or M$oft evil? A friend of mine has a sticker that says "When choosing between to evils, I take the one I haven't tried before". I guess that applies in this case :)

"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad

hmmm

[vAMP]

I wonder if you will ever be able to get rid of AOL from the ps2 once its being installed;)

Mozilla

[rograndom]

Hey, with Mozilla I think we've finally found a piece of software that can push the PSX2 to it's limits.

*ducks*

--
andy j.

Add IBM to the top of that list...

[Spoing]

jadrien writes "As the war for the common denominator access platform continues, the only two players that scare Microsoft team up.

I'd add IBM to the top of that list. After reading this article from Consulting Times I have a new perspective on the whole Mundie distraction.

In sum: MS doesn't care about 'Linux'. It cares about control and threats to that control.

By distracting the open source, free software, or Linux advocates it zaps strength from IBM's efforts to rally them to make stronger technology that MS doesn't control...and thus slows IBM's own efforts. MS needs some time to keep companies from moving away from Microsoft-based software, and to institute more MS-controled technologies such as .net.

Anything that can impact IBM's efforts to build open source or Linux support will also slow the efforts of HP, Compaq, Dell, and others that understand the business costs of the current Microsoft monopoly.

New route for people onto the internet

[Mr_Silver]

Aol and Sony make a good team. They're both very good at meeting the needs of consumers, and both have a great track record when it comes to consumer marketting. While MS are taking over the universe it makes sense for them to join forces.

Where this is also advantagous is in creating a new route into the internet for loads of people that previously couldn't afford a full on PC.

I run a talker, uberworld.org, and I see lots of the newer people on the web on a daily basis. I reckon this will help a great deal.

--

The diabolical trio goes to war!

[Savage-Rabbit]

So Astoroth and Baphomet have finally ganged up on Lucifer !

This will be interesting in deed! Especially the Slashdot comments. The anti evil corporation fanatics will have an interesting time figuring out who is the bad guy in this fight.