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Sony, Toshiba And IBM To Develop New OS
gaijin writes: "According to this article in the English version of the Japanese newspaper
'Daily Yomirui', Sony will use its experience developing the PS2 OS (hey, wasn't
it Linux based?) and work with Toshiba and IBM at the hardware side
to create
a new OS that 'would allow personal computers and home appliances to exchange huge volumes of data, including the high-resolution graphics of a television screen, through a broadband connection.'"
Why is this filed under "Apache"? It's not mentioned in the story that I can find.
-- Sigs are for losers
New OS would link PCs, gadgets
Yomiuri Shimbun
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE), Toshiba Corp. and IBM Corp. have reached a basic agreement on jointly developing a new operating system (OS) to be released in 2005 for computers capable of high-speed Internet connections, industry sources said Friday.
The OS would allow personal computers and home appliances to exchange huge volumes of data, including the high-resolution graphics of a television screen, through a broadband connection.
Users would also be able to control their home appliances via PC, and watch television programs and movies on their PC at any location.
According to the sources, the firms intend to make the source code of the finished OS available to other companies in an attempt to make it the global standard of the anticipated high-speed Internet age.
SCE will bring to the project software development skills honed through its work on two PlayStation video game consoles and their attendant software. Toshiba and IBM will provide semiconductor and computer manufacturing expertise.
Work on the OS project has not yet begun, but the three companies have begun joint development of next-generation semiconductors that will be hundreds of times faster than current integrated chips and feature networking functions.
The three companies predict the entire development cost will run to about 400 million dollars (52 billion yen).
According to the sources, local area networks will be used to connect PCs installed with the operating system to TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators and other home appliances, giving great flexibility in controlling home appliances.
The larger bandwidth of a broadband connection will open the door to the downloading of movies, TV programs and video games via the Internet, the sources said.
Users will be able to store television programs in their PCs and watch them at any time and any place.
TVs with the OS installed will be much smaller as they will not need a tuner, the sources said.
All controls will be accessible from the TV screen, making the system more user-friendly, the sources said, an important feature when considering the elderly and those unfamiliar with using PCs.
The OS will also enable tasks impossible for current technology, the sources said.