The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - Dell a competitor of MS? Never?

Dell a competitor of MS? Never?

http://www.betanews.com/article.php3?sid=1064550873

Seems like Dell just stepped up to the plate. Now before you all whip out the "Hey, they are just repackaging some Real stuff, they don't do software", would you also say they are not competing with Apple? After all, in hardware Dell is also just an assembler/distributer, right?

Just me (Sir to you)
Monday, September 29, 2003

So we're up to speed, this is yet another rebranded product lineup: Lexmark printers, MusicMatch software, and Creative's MP3 player.

Lou
Monday, September 29, 2003

And the OS that competes with MS Media Center Edition? Is that re-branded? That's the one thing that's actually interesting in the article.

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Monday, September 29, 2003

Bizzaro. PPT slideshow presentations on your TV? Never happen. Technically simple, user experience: zer0. About as thrilling as looking at your friend's European vacation pictures. Tres Boring.

Dell and MSFT are hardly competing in this space. Dell is merely screwing around.

MSFT has some interesting strategies working in trying to license WM9. An obvious ploy to end-run H.264 and MPEG-4. However, their ASF format is a non-starter for broadcasters. The litmus test will be whether they drop ASF in favor of MPEG-2 transport for delivery of WM9 elementary streams. The jury is still out.

nat ersoz
Monday, September 29, 2003

I thought they already demonstrated WM9 delivery inside an MPEG-2 stream.

Just me (Sir to you)
Monday, September 29, 2003

No doubt it has been done. The question is how will they license it?

nat ersoz
Monday, September 29, 2003

Dell is the grocery store.

Microsoft is the grocery store vendor.

Mike
Monday, September 29, 2003

I'm not clear on the Media Center application. Having seen neither I wonder if Dell didn't negotiate a special deal with Microsoft to rebrand their software ("surprisingly similar look and feel...") and get it on XP Home. Perhaps its Dell's own software, but I'm left wondering if its not some sort of software exclusive they negotiated with Microsoft.

Lou
Monday, September 29, 2003

AFAIK their offering is something build on top of XP Home, with an application bundle from Real and MS media extras. This seems to fly directly in the face of Microsofts Media Center strategy.

Just me (Sir to you)
Tuesday, September 30, 2003