Unfortunately the idea of using a network of set-top boxes as a distributed computing platform has been patented...by Microsoft. I can't recall the patent number but it should be findable on the various patent sites.
The idea of course isn't new (but when did that stop anybody getting a patent:( ). Rudy Rucker had quite a reasonable explanation of it in The Hacker and the Ants but I guess patent examiners don't read such books.
You left out graphics too. MS has bought a lot of good people over the past few years. However a lot of the work hasn't made it into products and some that is announced as being for new products simply falls by the wayside. But this is the same for a lot of big company R&D.
That said I don't trust MS to do the right thing. They lie constantly, always look for ways to put their marketing spin on things and bind users to their products.
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Unfortunately the idea of using a network of set-top boxes as a distributed computing platform has been patented...by Microsoft. I can't recall the patent number but it should be findable on the various patent sites.
:( ). Rudy Rucker had quite a reasonable explanation of it in The Hacker and the Ants but I guess patent examiners don't read such books.
The idea of course isn't new (but when did that
stop anybody getting a patent
ActiveCampus? CampusX?
That said I don't trust MS to do the right thing. They lie constantly, always look for ways to put their marketing spin on things and bind users to their products.