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Cisco Plans Its Home Invasion

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the my-fridge-talks-to-me-at-night dept.

theodp writes "Despite lots of scars from earlier consumer craziness which included an Internet-connected fridge, Newsweek reports Cisco has set its sights on your living room, including videoconferencing which would let CEO John Chambers watch his beloved Duke basketball with far-away relatives. While recent acquisitions of Linksys and Scientific Atlanta make Cisco the only company that can come in on top of technology that's already inside homes, some skeptics say speaking to the consumer is simply not in Cisco's genes."

1 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Dear.... by segedunum · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Microsoft, Intel, AMD and now Cisco all have this strange belief (mostly via their idiot CEOs) that they're going to make this triumphant entry into peoples' living rooms. I'm afraid they are PC software and hardware companies, and nothing more. They just don't have what it takes in the same way as Apple, LG and other consumer electronics companies do.

    There's also the issue of the use OF DRM, and the paradox that the only way you can make a digital home is to make content flow like water i.e. it's free (like peoples' MP3 collections today) or ridiculously cheap. There's no way that's going to happen legitimately.

    There's also the issue that the average home user can't afford a home network, a central Windows Media server or ridiculously expensive Cisco equpment.

    These silly PC companies are all pissing patterns in the snow.