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Microsoft HomeStation - Son Of XBox Revealed
An unnamed reader contributes this link: "PC Formathave story about Microsoft's follow up to the XBox. Rumor is it's a home entertainment centre called HomeStation. It'll offer video and TV on demand, and act as an internet gateway for internet appliances. Profiling is mentioned. The story makes an interesting point about how the XBox's true purpose is to pave the way for Microsoft as a home entertainment brand."
You know. I know that people on /. give MS a lot of flack... hell, there are instances in which they deserve it.
I don't mean to sound like a dick. I know that this will get modded down... but hell. More power to them. Expansion is a good thing and if I were Bill I'd be trying to get MS tied into just about everything too. I'd like to be the first person in this post to say that I don't think that this is a bad thing. I'll get me an x-box and one of these too I'm sure.
I haven't seen any Xboxes in the store yet. What is the point of advertising an upgrade to a product that hasn't been sold yet? Why would people buy the Xbox when they can apparently wait a few monts to get a much better version?
So if microsoft is plannig to occupy the home entertainment channel with their devices while the home Geek will still have Linux, MenuetOS, BSD's, to grow his computer-related abilities...
It reminds me of the early eighties when the people willing to be entertained by electronic devices used Nintendo's Game&Watch or Atari/Coleco... while the others Geeks would just code anything (compact) in BASIC.
I hope Microsoft doesn't plan to leave only expensive "professional" solutions to the home hobbyist coder or it may look like there won't be many MS-coders around in 25 years...
Trolling using another account since 2005.
While I do often bash MS's software, their hardware is normaly top-notch. They've got good engineers, and with the nFORCE (and with it, most likely an AMD CPU) and all the nice stuff the nFORCE has (AC3 encoding, nVidia graphics, AMD, lack of intel) this box will probly be fairly nice tech-wise. Combine that with the Microsoft name, probly one of the most known corp. on the planet, and you have a big seller right here. The one thing I dont love is the fact it runs XP (however, besides being windows, one if it's biggest faults is product activation, something that wont matter in this case, due to the fact you wont be upgrading it) I personaly think this is something MS should have kept hidden to boost sales on the xbox.
If this thing runs windows and can run PC and xbox games, does that mean my copy of XP (no I dont have one, nor am I planing on it) will run xbox games? or does this copy of XP have some magic DDLs that will run them? (how long till those find their way to the net to become the ULTIMATE emu.)
as much as I hate to say it, I do have some respect for MS's R&D team. Dont bash it till you've seen it, guys.
The opinions in this post are ficticious. Any similarity to actual opinions, real or imagined, is purely coincidental.
I have it on good authority that the box will actually be called "My Games Console".
Pokéthulhu
Gotta catch you all!
I wonder who's really got the domain. Network Solutions shows it expired in May, 2000.
Registrant: Sue Almand (HOMESTATION-DOM)
51 Ocean Breeze Drive
Atlantic Beach, FL 32233
US
Domain Name: HOMESTATION.COM
Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Almand, Sue (SA4428) scalmand@EARTHLINK.NET
51 Ocean Breeze Drive
Atlantic Beach,, FL 32233
904-246-0131
Technical Contact:
Eclipse Communications Hostmaster (EC136-ORG) hostmaster@ECLIPSE-COMM.COM
Eclipse Communications
701 W. 4th St.
South Pittsburg, TN 37380
US
423-837-4955
Fax- - 423-629-6121
Record last updated on 26-Jul-2001.
Record expires on 23-May-2000.
Record created on 23-May-1998.
Database last updated on 6-Sep-2001 18:26:00 EDT.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.ECLIPSE-COMM.COM 209.75.67.159
NS2.ECLIPSE-COMM.COM 209.75.67.160
I haven't even seen an XBox in the flesh yet. Surely advertising it's predecessor won't do XBox sales any good. There are bound to be people who'll be thinking "Hmmmm......I don't think I'll but that XBox now, I'll wait for the next one."
/.? This is the first time I've been able to log in for the last 24 hours. Why doesn't someone just post an article explaining the problem instead of seemingly pretending that nothing is wrong?
On a side note: What is going on with
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Moderator's essentials
However, with the X-box and the HomeStation (?) this will change. Here's a device with large storage capabilites and easily upgraded with the right DLL to become a DivX player.
Nice work MS, but will the MPAA like this?
it's in my head
Possibly an unpopular view, but isn't this what home networks were made for (except for gaming, of course!)?
Any company which has gone it head-to-head against Microsoft has lost (Novell, Borland/Inprise, Corel, Lotus etc. etc.). If MS is going into the home entertainment area, then it's time for Sony etc. to get worried. Don't think Microsoft won't destroy you.
Novell used to think that supporting DOS was a good idea... then came NT.
Borland used to think writing compilers for DOS/Windows was a good idea. Then came Visual Studio.
WordPerfect used to think that writing a word processor for DOS/Windows was a good idea, then came Word (for Windows).
Lotus used to think that writing a spreadsheet for DOS/Windows was a good idea, then came Excel.
Sony use to think that making stereos/playstations/etc. was a good idea, then came HomeStation.
How can we stop this?
We can't. AfxMessageBox("You're Screwed!")
return 0; }
Damn it, I wish Microsoft had thought of this.
You know the original demo for the N64, the one they incorporated in to Mario64, where you could play with Mario's face and distort it and tweak it? I think Microsoft should do the same demo for the XBox with Bill G's face and maybe Steve Ballmer's as well.
Think of how much fun that would be to play with! Way cooler than the Mario demo. Plus, it'd be a funny PR move, showing they have a sense of humor.
I also hope they don't keep the name as HomeStation. It sounds like something out of a military movie: "Echo troop to home station, do you copy?" Brrr! Call it something cozy and consumer-friendly, like... I don't know... Microsoft Bob.
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
If the above statement is true, it becomes much less atractive to develop games specifically for Xbox. By building a PC version you would already cover PC and HomeStation users.
This has to be a hoax. The picture on the site is terrible, and the details don't make much sense (will be able to play PC games? what PC games? how, if it's a locked down 2nd generation XBox?)
And "HomeStation"? I mean, com'on, you mean to tell me that MS will spend millions promoting the XBox brand and they will not use it for this (call it XBox TV or something?). I don't buy it.
What, again? Like the PS2, TiVO, like enhanced cable decoders, TV out cards, and (oh, yeah) the X-box did?
The X-box already has the spec to do all this, so what Microsoft are really saying is that they failed to figure out how to sell services on the back of it. HomeStation looks just like what the X-box was supposed to be (with a bigger hard drive), plus the breathing space to let the software and network guys actually get it right this time.
So lets say that X-box sells well, and two years down the line, M$ start marketing HomeStation with essentially the same hardware, but ongoing costs. They're going to have a hard time persuading people to throw their X-boxen in the cellar and pay out again for a new box that does exactly the same thing. Yes, it also does what a TiVO does, but the point is that in two year's time, anyone who wants and X-box or a TiVO is already going to have one (or both), and it's going to be hard to persuade them to pay out again just to save themselves half a cubic foot or so of real estate.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Apparently you have yet to grasp the finer points of karma whoreing on /.
Any post that starts with "this will probably be modded down but..." or the like are always modded up.
Whether this is because moderators like to be unpredictable or there is some other reason is yet unknown to me. So the effect of the subject of this post is not quite known (if they just like to be unpredictable, they'll probably mod down, as modding up is predicted elsewhere in this post. But if the reason is something else, then they will probably mod up).
Anonymous karma whore.
I haven't even seen an XBox in the flesh yet. Surely advertising it's predecessor won't do XBox sales any good.
This wasn't an ad, in fact the entire tone of the article smells like a leak especially the part about talking to potential partners who state "you aren't supposed to know abut this". Considering how secretive the X-Box guys were within Microsoft I'm not surprised that I worked there and this is the first I'm hearing of it.
Of course it makes sense, X-Box is just a console. It would be extremely stupid of MSFT not to at least try and leverage the X-Box it to something much more considering the fact that they have content, an ISP, a desktop and server OS, and games.
I was up in the electronics district of Tokyo a few weeks back and saw a sweet little barebones PC. About the size of a couple of chemistry books.
One nice thing about it was that it had a Video (NTSC) out plug right next to the USB and firewire. Look through the 'Older Stuff' on slashdot and find that recent game console that someone made. (In the clear case) Look at the menus he made.
Add DiVx support. Add a fast net connection. Add a game controller and IR remote.
If I knew the Video Out on this box would have Linux drivers, I would have bought it on the spot.
I really don't see what's missing...
In reality, Macintosh could sweep away all of the competition for the AV market if they released a $500-$1000 box that looked great, served up audio and video, had hardware DVD/MPG/vcd/DiVx decoding, as well as being a home file server (SAMBA/NFS/HTTP) and net connection sharing machine over an Apple AirPort connection...
Think about it - Your DVD player, PVR, music/video collection all sitting on one great-looking box next to your home theater system. Your company might also have one, filling the niche that the Qube never quite filled. Web/mail server and voip/video conferencing box all in one.
Think it won't happen?
They already have some deal with Harmon Kardon for speakers. I can't imagine that no one over there isn't thinking along the same lines as me.
Personally, I can't wait until it does. I'll but one.
As for games, I have no idea. I never play them, except to say that if you try to sell a game console as a PC, it will wind up biting you in the ass a short time later; Here in Japan, Game consoles were sold as "famicon" a few years back, the word being a bastardization of "Family Computer". Personally, I think that marketing a quickly-outdated game console as a computer soured a lot of people on the idea that a computer is a useful thing to have in your home. It still hasn't recovered here. Lots of people just don't have a PC. They use their cellphones for messaging and email and some web browsing and are satisfied.
Over here, at least, if you want to add a box to someone's house, you've got to replace three others.
Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo
-- My Weblog.
Wouldn't that be fun to see!
Imagine the point where (or should that be 'when') MS's desire for world domination puts them head to head with the MPAA and RIAA.
We already know that the government's conduct remedy against the RIAA last year for price fixing on CDs was as effective as the last conduct remedy against MS, several years ago.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Games-wise, it's anticipated HomeStation will play both PC and Xbox titles.
MS is entering some interesting territory, they are COMPETING with their own customers. Compaq, Dell, IBM *also* sell PCs for this purpose... I wonder how they will feel when the XBox v2.0 starts to serve the same functions, in the home setting, as their product.
One of the cardinal rules of business: Never take a product 'direct' to market, and compete with your customers with the product that they BUY FROM YOU. It will leave a bad taste in the mouths of the people who *used* to be your customers.. there will be desire, on their part, to collectively THUMP you.
The Xbox is the single-handedly most astonishingly brash thing MS is doing right now - they are really looking at taking over the Home-PC market. Will XBox v4.0 be a Proprietary Computer? Will MS start selling full featured PC work-a-likes, sure they might call them appliances... but if it smells like a monopoly, and acts like a monopoly....
2) Use it as an mp3 player/internet radio box
3) Play DVD's on it
as many people have pointed out, there is something fishy here. But that aside...
Repeat after me, I will not enter Sony's territory. Good god, I think this would be a gigantic error for Microsoft. I can see it now
"In today's news, Computer giant IBM teamed up with Electronics industry leader Sony to produce a new product. When asked the purpose of the product, an industry spokesperson said, 'To crush Microsoft out of existance. They are a worm and we're tired of them being uppity." It is rumored that they newly formed Hewlett-Compaq is also a part of the delveopment of said product"
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
Think about it.
Remember, Xbox sports a 10/100Base-T Ethernet adaptor and support for 480p/720p/1080i component video. It doesn't take much to figure out this could become the basis of a very nice home entertainment device if you combine the functions of WebTV and Ultimate TV into such a device.
If Microsoft markets it right it could become a hot seller for homes with monitors and projection TV's that support 480p/720p/1080i component video inputs.
Not surprising and a perfectly logical move for Bill Gates & team. A PC is still, despite all attempts of MS to the contrary, an open and general-purpose machine. MS will probably never have 100% control of it and will always have a cloud of legal storms surrounding its attempts to shut everyone else out.
Enter the XBox. It's a closed platform. There's absolutely no reason or pretense it needs to be open. They control 100% from hardware, OS, software, etc. It seems clear they find value in a strategy to expand the "point solution" platform to encompas more and more of what general-purpose PCs do today. Once locked into anti-competive platforms (and to be sure the services that will accompany them), MS can achieve the kind of mindshare domination they've always wanted. By that point maybe they won't even care if there are still a few geeks running around loose who still use PCs with Linux!
Interesting, eh? When they finally produce their suite of digi-appliances any attempt to use or modify them in some non-MS-approved manner will at least void the warrantee and be unsupported and at worst be criminal. (Oh... you thought you owned that appliance? Terribly sorry, sir, you only licenced it and your modification constitutes actionable breach of your license agreement!)
I'd sooner trust a shark's smile.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
This story sure makes this article much more understandable.
The Siemens HomeStation is a docking adapter for cell phones. It both recharges the phone and diverts its incoming calls to the landline, so you only have to deal with one phone when at home.
Sounds cool, but I wonder if it'll have a tiny camera inside it so it can send Microsoft information about our habits so they can make new products that will suit us, therefor completely taking over our lives.
;)
Of course... Ever see the movie, "Anti-trust?"
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Sounds like they're trying to have consumers confuse their new product with eComStation.
Remember that old joke about how it will be like when microsoft runs everything? Well, this is just a step closer isn't it? MS already owns your computer and periferals, soon it will be your game console, but while they are doing that, why not just make your entire entertainment center MS? All your stereo components will talk nicely togeather, and the increase in functionality (video on demand, auto-ripping/availability of cds from your MS-cd player to your MS-pda (WinCE) and your computer and your car (auto-pc) will all be automatic? And MS has the budget for R&D to do this as well.
:(
I may be a cynic and grasping at conspiricy theories here, but this is the start of a big strategic positioning for them (now they have that silly DOJ thing bought off^w^wdealt with. This is why MS has to be stopped as soon as possible, or at least handcuffed like IBM and AT&T were when they were found to be manopolies. Of course, the fact that MS-election paid off well and MS-president will make sure that nothing happens to them will mean that that's just a pipe dream
alan, not a nut
The software makers used to be larger. Remember DRI, Lotus, WordPerfect?
What about WebTV? DTV? Ultimate TV? The hundred or so children's titles? The Microsoft-published games? (Like Age of Empires?)
I'm not keen on Microsoft creating a server for my living room (I'd rather have a Linux or FreeBSD server in the basement, Windows and Mac clients throughout the home wirelessly, like I have now). But the idea of having a server in every home, regardless of maker, is a good idea.
This gives Microsoft a whole new arena for dirty tricks.