Microsoft pulled surprises out if its giant hat last week with a couple of significant announcements. The first one was a positive – embedded Windows 7 for CE devices which holds some promise – especially for Media Center fans. The second a total disappointment albeit not an entirely shocking one where they admitted their awesome, Courier Tablet PC concept was just that: a concept that will never see the light of day. Since I’m a bit ticked about the Courier non-announcement, we’ll focus on the positive, embedded PC concept.
Many sites have sort of glossed over the announcement, but don’t for a second discount this one. Microsoft has unleashed an embedded version of their hot-selling Windows 7 operating system to be used by OEMs in consumer electric devices such as TVs, set top boxes, DVD/Blu-ray players etc. If this sounds a little Linux-like to you, you’re not crazy. Embedded W7 is targeting Linux front-on since you can find Linux in many CE devices today – especially those things like set-top-boxes, TV firmware, DVD and Blu-ray players and HTPC extenders. And because Microsoft included Media Center in the embedded W7 mix this is definitely a big deal.
Microsoft now has my attention. Here is hoping some 3rd parties can pull off some nice CE devices. A nice DVR appliance in my entertainamnet center with w7 embedded that lets me store media and can do TTG and stream to my TiVo DVRs would be awesome.
Getting the media cneter UI on my TV on one input and TiVo HDUI on the other input will be best of both worlds
That’s pretty slick. I would like to see a M$ branded set top box.
cypher, once upon a time there was a LG Media Center-based DVR. Also, for historical reference, the SlingCatcher was built on Windows Embedded/CE. With more of this stuff native, it could have been so much better I’m guessing.