|
[ Go to March 1997 Table of Contents ]
News
-- by Jim Forbes
And you thought Windows could be found everywhere already? Well, it's not on your TV set yet. But it's getting there. Sharpening its already tight focus on convergence, early this year Microsoft announced plans for a new version of Windows designed expressly to help PC makers build machines that will sit in living rooms and be viewed from across the room. The product, which has the working title of Microsoft Broadcast PC, will be a superset of Windows 95 and include software tools that make it easier to remotely control computers with self-contained TV tuners. Broadcast PC includes a number of features not found in the current generation of Windows. These include horizontal title bars that extend across a screen and make it possible to quickly go from one task to another, move between preset Web pages and switch channels; and features that enable TV and movie producers to link Web pages to broadcast information. While the development tools for this specialized version of Windows are still in the early stages, Broadcast PC will keep pace with other development programs now under way at Microsoft, including Windows 97 and Memphis. Copyright (c) 1997 CMP Media Inc.
|