Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

HP Dumps Linux for Windows XP MCE in New Media Player

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the switching-it-up dept.

An anonymous reader writes "There hasn't been much said about this, but HP's new z545 Digital Entertainment Center appears to be a Windows-based re-spin of an earlier Linux-based model that HP unveiled three years ago at the Tech X NY trade show in New York, and which was sold for some time as the de100c Digital Entertainment Center. Seems like the joint's gone downhill ever since Perens left."

12 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Not quite a backwards step by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What seems to be most clear from the article is that HP is interested in developing these devices but not interested in actually doing a significant amount of the R&D for it. With Linux, though they had a large amount of control over the featureset as well as the functionality at a low level, they probably spent too much money performing the customizations. With Microsoft doing all the development, HP is free to focus on the look and feel of the device rather than the OS level driver tweaking.

    In this day and age, the operating system is pretty much a commodity. It is the software features on top that give a device any sort of real value. Since a device like this never exposes the underlying operating system to users, it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money developing something yourself, especially when someone else has already invested the development effort.

    So blue screen jokes aside, this is probably a good business decision for HP. Maybe not so good for those embedded Linux engineers who don't have a job on that team anymore, but fiscally the best choice for the company.

    1. Re:Not quite a backwards step by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually what I think is much more likely is the new generation of DRM products that will come out soon to lock in customers.

      Microsoft is pushing DRM-enabled products and the mass media makers mostly agree. So since it would be easier to buy compatable products then try to recreate compatable ones in Linux while facing legal hurdles and patent problems.

      Embedded Linux is very mature nowadays, their is nothing that is more expensive when it comes to developing linux platform then windows, it's all already been done by other companies.

      The future or DRM media seems much more likely, considuring that this sort of thing is microsoft's and the mass media's baby and they are making a media player after all.

      Don't worry. It'll be a flop. There is no advatage of this device over a Laptop towards the high-end, or a tablet pc towards the retarded end, or a pocket-pc type device on the low/small end. (after all a decent NEW laptop can be had for around 600 bucks nowadays, and it'll only get cheaper) They are aiming for a market niche that either doesn't exist or is so small they will fail even if they reach full market saturation.

    2. Re:Not quite a backwards step by metlin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I guess this explains the HP branded iPod too.

      Which is kinda sad, really.

      HP was once a company that was innovative, creative and original. Now they've degenerated into yet another money-hungry company who're afraid to tread new grounds or create something from scratch.

      I'm sure that if Hewlett and Packard were to see the company now, they'd cringe in sadness and shame.

      Thanks to the eminent Carly, HP now does nothing more than rebrand and sell services - they've laid off so many people who were into core technology and research operations. It's really sad to see what they have become.

  2. we shall port linux to it. by has2k1 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Embedded inside the HP entertainment system are most of the functions of a desktop PC. In this case, that includes a 566 MHz Intel Celeron processor, 64MB of RAM, and a 40 Gigabyte hard disk.

    ./ers know that whatever has a processor HAS linux in it's genes. I know it will not take long to port the latest kernel to it.

    what hurts me though are the $$ that finally get to naughty bill for the embedded windows. HP should consider bare-bones.

  3. Interesting opportunity by erroneus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm guessing we won't be privy to information surrounding this, but if by some coincidence someone with access to the information at HP is reading this..?

    I'd like to see some data comparing the two devices in terms of reliability, customer satisfaction, rate of returns and junk like that.

    I know why *I* would prefer one version of the product over another because if I know there's Linux inside, I want to play with it. But Joe consumer doesn't usually know one way or the other so I'm interested in a manufacturer's perspective on this. They care about whether a [version of a] product is widely accepted, MTBF (mean time between failure), rate of returns and junk like that.

    If the main difference between the two devices is the OS underneath, it would be a terrific opportunity to see the impact that the OS choice makes in the creation of a consumer product is concerned.

  4. Wait a minute... by Bill_Royle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    HP's been at the top at some point technology-wise?

    I'd argue that HP has been going downhill in terms of innovative products even *before* Perens headed out.

  5. Competitive Advantage...? by DJ+XpL0iT · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is it possible that HP used the earlier iteration of the device to push home it's economies of scale message with Microsoft?

    There has been a few stories recently where local governments, schools and SMBs have used Linux as leverage to get MS to drop their prices.

    HP is just as much a customer of MS in the OEM market as anybody else...They would have to negotiate what they pay for their OEM licenses that they include with their consumer PCs. Any drop in what they pay MS for the OEM licenses translates into pure profit for HP without changing the sticker price.

    Granted that these media centre devices have a reasonable chance of providing market penetration where PCs will not go (I'm thinking the poorer end of the socioeconomic demographic), and the aforementioned "linux as leverage" strategy, MS may have been prepared to give up some percentage on their OEM license fees for ALL of HPs product range to get MS MCE onto these devices.

    1. Re:Competitive Advantage...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I doubt it.

      It's the DRM media angle.

      In the near future everybody is hoping that DRM-enabled digital media will make a big splash, and if you want to play that stuff you need Microsoft.

      It would be stupid for HP to release a device now that would be incapable of playing most forms of protected media six to twelve months from now.

      I hope that DRM crap won't take off, but I doubt HP is willing to take that risk. So they spend more money on MS's crap in the hope that it will keep their device relevent in the forseeable future.

      It's not like it's going to cost them much, almost people who buy computers nowadays pays the MS tax, so worst case for HP is that they'd have to raise the price of their products by 40 dollars (at most).

  6. HP are Microsoft's lackeys anyway... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 5, Interesting
    My missus works at HP and they have always been totally run by the decisions that Microsoft enforces on them anyway, particularly since the Compaq merger.

    Through my job it telecoms, I've been to a number of IBM sites in my travels and the Linux presence is openly on show at all of the sites I've visited whereas the missus says she's never heard Linux mentioned at HP, even though she's involved in their internal IT support.

    This shouldn't really come as a great shock to anyone - having worked for Lucent in the good old Carly Fiorina days, that woman typifies the role of "corporate whore" and will name drop just about any cool and emerging technology she can just to make her empty speeches sound more impressive.

    Digital is no more, Tru64 is dead and HP simply never were and never will be a true Linux player - they're basically just a hardware arm of Microsoft these days.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
  7. I mourn for HP. by bmo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    HP is dead. It used to be a scientific/technical company on the cutting edge of science and technology. It has ceased to be anything of any importance. Instead of hardware that people will never part with (I'll give up my 48G when I'm *dead*), Carly Fiorina has turned that company into a "Brand" that markets a commodity. Brands are a dime a dozen. The HP brand trades on its history and when people realize that HP is not the HP of history, the Brand of HP will be worth exactly what Carly has turned it into:

    Nothing.

    HP symbolizes to me what happens when MBAs and Accountants run businesses. When your goal is merely meeting the numbers at the end of the quarter, you do not see the long view of the future. You simply go with the lowest common denominator, stagnate, and lose customers in the long run. The death of such a company does not take long. Witness the Race to the Bottom between Compaq and Packard Bell. Both are gone, and it only took a year or two to happen.

    Thanks, Carly, for killing one of my favorite companies.

    --
    BMO

  8. Why do we care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Honestly, who gives a damn what OS it runs? As long as it works, let it go.

  9. Hard Work by jamesl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Developing software is hard work. Developing products is hard work. Dealing with customers is hard work -- especially big ones like HP. Seeing the future, writing a spec and releasing a feature set requires time, talent, capital and a willingness to take a risk -- in this case, a big risk.

    Linux got a leg up on Microsoft when HP released its Linux-based product. Then, no one cared enough to do the hard work needed to compete with MS. Don't complain about a bad decision at HP or another case of MS taking over a new market. Linux didn't lose the game. Linux never came out for the second inning.