linumax writes "It took 12 years and more than $10 billion, but one of Microsoft's biggest dreams may finally be coming true: The company is close to becoming a major player in the television business. This is not about PCs that play video -- the company has done that for years -- but rather a whole new platform for delivering television over the Internet, through software that's mostly invisible to consumers." From the article: "Consumers will see cool new features -- imagine four live pictures on a screen at once -- instant channel changes and more options for on-demand video rentals, including high-definition content. Microsoft TV also merges phone services, so incoming messages, e-mail and caller ID can be displayed on users' television screens. Microsoft hopes its Internet protocol television system (IPTV) will also be used in India, China and other developing countries, where it could provide education and government services as well as entertainment via the television."Ads_xl=0;Ads_yl=0;Ads_xp='';Ads_yp='';Ads_xp1='';Ads_yp1='';Ads_par='';Ads_cnturl='';Ads_prf='page=article';Ads_channels='RON_P6_IMU';Ads_wrd='microsoft,tv,internet';Ads_kid=0;Ads_bid=0;Ads_sec=0; Microsoft Sees Future in IPTV Log in/Create an Account | Top | 193 comments (Spill at 50!) | Index Only | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 193 comments 0: 187 comments 1: 138 comments 2: 96 comments 3: 27 comments 4: 12 comments 5: 8 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Hmm, I wonder... by TooMuchEspressoGuy (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @06:40PMRe:Hmm, I wonder... by krem81 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @06:57PMRe:Hmm, I wonder... by redheaded_stepchild (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:20PMRe:Hmm, I wonder... by ackthpt (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @06:58PM Re:Hmm, I wonder... (Score:5, Funny) by dada21 (163177) * <{dada} {at} {dnginc.com}> on Tuesday October 11, @07:13PM (#13769570) They'll keep a 30 minute show to 30 minutes, but real programming will be sped up 1.4x from 22 minutes to 16 minutes, offering them 6 additional minutes of ads. The extra ads will be performed on the TV shows' sets by the actors, to confound the commercial skippers."Buy Irish Spring Soap, it even makes me smell good!" Malcolm Reynolds [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Hmm, I wonder... by Blue-Footed Boobie (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @07:55PMRe:Hmm, I wonder... by malfunct (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:08PMRe:Hmm, I wonder... by kcslash (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:59PM The MSterious Future (Score:5, Insightful) by dada21 (163177) * <{dada} {at} {dnginc.com}> on Tuesday October 11, @06:40PM (#13769308) IPTV is the needed "invention" to roll faster connections for less money. IPTV can offer a variable payment method - subscription (show, channel or all channels), pay per view, or ads. IPTV can bring low budget vids to a wide audience, and it can tell advertisers, content creaters and others who is really watching their shows.But will government, cable distributors and Hollywood allow it? I already foresee the "monopoly monopoly!" posts, but I think only a few big players could start the ball rolling.I am very interested in seeing what MS can do to overcome bandwidth concerns at the backbone, ISP and user level (TFA only eludes to it).IPTV could destroy Tivo, Comcast and Fox if the content is broadcast quality or better. I fear blog production quality, though.Will this eventually be a separately managed "Internet" bridged at the DSLAM or ISP level? Will MS involve enough big players to keep regulators off their back? Will it run Linux? Err...Then again, it could be a WebTV failure as well.We need to stop separating media into cable, POTS, cell, radio, Internet, etc. Its all just packets and it needs massive cohesion in order to be truly at-will. Use all that bandwidth for AnyPacket services and bandwidth will skyrocket while prices will plummet. Why is MS forced to chase landlines? Overregulation.Funny though that MS is digging their own grave. IPTV = more bandwidth = more client-server software implementation.I can't wait for the future. [ Reply to This Re:The MSterious Future (Score:5, Informative) by Wesley Felter (138342) <wesley@felter.org> on Tuesday October 11, @06:54PM (#13769441) (http://felter.org/wesley/) But will government, cable distributors and Hollywood allow it?Verizon and SBC have been having some problems licensing TV channels, but they'll probably just spend their way through the problem. There are also local franchise problems that are being slowly solved in various legislatures.I am very interested in seeing what MS can do to overcome bandwidth concerns at the backbone, ISP and user levelYou can't fix this problem in software. SBC is using VDSL over the last mile and the video will all be flowing over their own network (aka "walled garden"). IP multicast cuts down on the backbone traffic a lot.IPTV could destroy Tivo, Comcast and Fox if the content is broadcast quality or better.It is broadcast quality, but for the forseeable future you'll only be able to get IPTV from your last-mile broadband provider. Obviously cable companies have no need for IPTV, so that leaves the telcos. Telcos are just starting to roll out broadband networks that have enough capacity for IPTV (VDSL/FTTH). TiVo is an equipment/software provider, so they can survive in an IPTV world by making IPTV boxes instead of cable boxes. Fox is a content company, so IPTV will just be another distribution channel for their content. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:The MSterious Future by dada21 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:06PM Re:The MSterious Future (Score:4, Informative) by r_cerq (650776) on Tuesday October 11, @07:49PM (#13769824) Maybe, but true IPTV would be on-demand rather than scheduled, IMO. Of course, if the back-end is closed and licensed, its doomed to fail. iTunes picks RSS feeds for podcasting from anyone, but IPTV will likely give us "what we don't want, when we don't want it." You're limiting IPTV to VoD or time-shifted TV, and that's not what it's about. Think "cable operator with real-time interactive features". IPTV is not _just_ a consumer-oriented tech, it's a way for telcos to compete with cable operators and pay for the high-bandwidth last-mile links customers want nowadays. (the ARPU in TV services is MUCH higher than Internet or voice) You'll get the god-knows-how-many broadcast channels as before, and those, being real-time, can and will use multicast, so each individual channel will only go once through the backbone. For timeshifted TV (think TiVO's "pause"), you can just have an HDD on the STB. Video-on-Demand, however, _Will_ take it's toll on the operator's network, as each customer's video-feed will be unique to that customer.And now, to go back to the original article, I've seen MS's platform in exhibits throughout the year. It's gorgeous, but it's expensive as hell (the STBs require a massive amount of capacity to do their nifty little features. While most middleware vendors make do with small PPC CPU's in the 200-400 Mhz range, MS's solution needs at least a 700MHz Celeron. The investment per customer goes through the roof) they're hardly a big contender in that area (although they're growing). They (still?) have a sizeable and healthy number of competitors. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:The MSterious Future by farnz (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:56PMRe:The MSterious Future by Wesley Felter (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @10:13PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:The MSterious Future by sdpinpdx (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @06:56PMRe:The MSterious Future by Wesley Felter (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @07:01PMRe:The MSterious Future by dada21 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:20PMIP/TV is a registered trademark of Cisco Systems by karl.auerbach (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:49PMRe:IP/TV is a registered trademark of Cisco System by Wesley Felter (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:45PMRe:The MSterious Future by NatteringNabob (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:59PMRe:The MSterious Future by dada21 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:26PMRe:The MSterious Future by NatteringNabob (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:04PMRe:The MSterious Future by forcei (Score:1)Wednesday October 12, @12:12AM3 replies beneath your current threshold.Given what a shitpile Comcast On-Demand is by Neil Blender (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @06:40PMRe:Given what a shitpile Comcast On-Demand is by DigitlDud (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:01PMRe:Given what a shitpile Comcast On-Demand is by Neil Blender (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:16PM4 pictures at once??? by Roadkills-R-Us (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @06:44PMRe:4 pictures at once??? by LifesABeach (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:00PMRe:4 pictures at once??? by SoloFlyer2 (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @07:40PM3 replies beneath your current threshold.Re-boot your TV in the middle of a Game? by RoterheadPro (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @06:46PMRe:Re-boot your TV in the middle of a Game? by Khan (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @09:09PMpointless? by tehwebguy (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @06:47PMMain use for multi screen is sports by xswl0931 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:23PMRe:pointless? by redheaded_stepchild (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:51PMRe:pointless? by IWannaBeAnAC (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:50PM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Sure (Score:5, Insightful) by Overly Critical Guy (663429) on Tuesday October 11, @06:47PM (#13769363) With PC sales slowing as the market saturates, Microsoft is salivating over the potential of faster-growing areas such as television and mobile phones.Salivating? More like clawing desperately at taking over the living room. They already failed with WMA thanks to iPod.All Apple has to do is release a video-based iPod, and it's bye-bye Windows in the living room as well--to be more specific, WMV (VC-1) will be dead along with H.264, which is already the primary codec for Blu-ray movies (Sony is already threatening X-Box 360's streaming movie capabilities thanks to Blue-ray, thereby making X-Box 360 useless since it has no Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive).I'm sorry, the features sound cool, but a lot of Microsoft tech gadgets have come and gone that sounded cool on the surface but just didn't provide the right interface or were too cumbersome. As usual, I'll wait and see (and hope Apple does something to actually legitimize it). [ Reply to ThisRe:Sure by interiot (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @06:57PMRe:Sure by QuietLagoon (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @07:39PMRe:Sure by molnarcs (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:56PMRe:Sure by jZnat (Score:2)Wednesday October 12, @12:03AMRe:Sure by dr.badass (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:28PM Re:Sure (Score:4, Informative) by Overly Critical Guy (663429) on Tuesday October 11, @07:11PM (#13769558) 'scuse me, how did the iPod do anything to harm a VIDEO-format?Beats me. I never said it did. I said an iPod video would kill WMV like the normal iPod has killed WMA. Reading comprehension...it's a good thing.All the iPod did was to inflate the price fo the standard mp3-player. And get alot of people robbed off the iPod becuase their unique design.Yeah, that's "all" it did. And all the Apple II did was legitimize the home personal computer.Apple legitimize?Yes, just like they did with the iTunes Music Store, which now has greater than 80% of the market.You're talking about the company that tried to force all their customers into using a single button mouse. Force? I was using multiple-buttoned mice in 1998.Next. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Sure by badriram (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:57PM2 replies beneath your current threshold.Re:Sure by jZnat (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @11:45PMRe:Sure by Overly Critical Guy (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:14PMRe:Sure by idsofmarch (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:18PMRe:Sure by jZnat (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @11:48PMRe:Sure by dr.badass (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:15PM3 replies beneath your current threshold. Imagine.... (Score:5, Insightful) by colonslashslash (762464) on Tuesday October 11, @06:47PM (#13769365) (http://www.tlm-project.org/) "Imagine four live pictures on a screen at once"Imagine two of those being horrible brainless reality TV re-runs peppered with commercials for products you wouldn't even think about buying, one a giant fat dirty BSoD and the other a rather fetching locked-up "Do you want to send this error report to Microsoft" dialog box floating happily on a background of hills and blue sky.Ahh yes, the future is bright. The future is BallmerVision. [ Reply to ThisBallmervision? by convex_mirror (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:11PM Re:Imagine.... (Score:5, Insightful) by Pharmboy (216950) on Tuesday October 11, @07:30PM (#13769696) (http://www.pharmboy.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday August 28, @12:34PM) When I saw the article title: "Microsoft Sees Future in IPTV" and the line "...Microsoft's biggest dreams may finally be coming true:"The first thing I thought was "Intellectual Property Television", and "oh great, Microsoft is going to try to patent the idea of selling things on TV. AND start their own TV home shopping channel to boot.".Must be too many anti-MS articles lately, I'm getting trigger happy.... [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Imagine.... by jZnat (Score:2)Wednesday October 12, @12:06AMProject the present ... by twitter (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:51PMRe:Project the present ... by The Bungi (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:06PMRe:Project the present ... by twitter (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:31PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Imagine.... by vertinox (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:05PMRe:Imagine.... by jZnat (Score:2)Wednesday October 12, @12:08AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Blurring the line... (Score:4, Informative) by fragmentate (908035) * on Tuesday October 11, @06:47PM (#13769367) (http://stoic.wisdomguild.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday October 09, @04:57AM) I remember when Amiga [amiga.com] was talking about such an environment. Where the lines between appliances were blurred. They dubbed it Digital Convergence [com.com] but never went very far with it.The idea was that all of your devices serve a single purpose (they did in 1998, when this was published). But, Amiga had this vision that they'd develop a platform that could live on a TV, a computer, a mobile phone, even a PDA. You could watch TV on your phone. Or you could use your phone over the TV (huh?). Even better, your phone and your TV could be your computer.The next ten years are definitely going to be interesting. Will Microsoft ever get this thing off the ground? Or will all of the litigation stifle it?I realize what Microsoft is talking about is a bit different, at least on the surface. But if they have this portable "media OS" they can certainly take it to the next level -- the level of "Digital Convergence". [ Reply to ThisRe:Blurring the line... by MightyMartian (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:27PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.The real annoyance. by Elgonn (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @06:48PMRe:The real annoyance. by Wesley Felter (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:12PMRe:The real annoyance. by r_cerq (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:51PM More Microsoft Innovation! (Score:5, Funny) by jmorris42 (1458) * <jmorris@beau.org> on Tuesday October 11, @06:48PM (#13769378) (http://www.whiteboxlinux.org/) Yup, nothing truly exists until Microsoft 'Innovates' it into existence. Nope, nobody ever thought of sending video over IP until today, thank God Microsoft is out there inventing the future for us. [ Reply to ThisRe:More Microsoft Innovation! by umeshunni (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:58PMRe:More Microsoft Innovation! by kill-hup (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @08:44PMRe:More Microsoft Innovation! by umeshunni (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:58PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.More creative ways to by Rosco P. Coltrane (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @06:49PMRe:More creative ways to by shadowmatter (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @06:57PMRe:More creative ways to by MightyMartian (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @07:24PMRe:More creative ways to by superpulpsicle (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:41PMRe:More creative ways to by jZnat (Score:2)Wednesday October 12, @12:15AMRe:More creative ways to by Bellum Aeternus (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:18PMRe:More creative ways to by geekoid (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @07:31PMRe:More creative ways to by dada21 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:32PMRe:More creative ways to by size1one (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:46PMRe:More creative ways to by Locke2005 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:59PMRe:More creative ways to by Nqdiddles (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:23PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.With Microsoft Involved... by ackthpt (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @06:49PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.That's bad news by Uukrul (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @06:49PMPopups! by cycletronic (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @06:49PMRe:Popups! by Spy der Mann (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:03PMMS IPTV - watch out !!!!! by COredneck (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @06:49PMRe:MS IPTV - watch out !!!!! by surprise_audit (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:50PMAdware and Spyware by kludge99 (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @06:52PMRe:Adware and Spyware by roye (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:37PMTargeted Ads by ZachPruckowski (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:41PMIPTV Shows by Viking5150 (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @06:52PMWait A Minute.... by mpapet (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @06:54PMRe:Wait A Minute.... by Locke2005 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:02PMRe:Wait A Minute.... by jcr (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:34PMWARNING: Written by PR department. by NoMoreNicksLeft (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @06:54PMIt may be possible by Wesley Felter (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:08PMRe:WARNING: Written by PR department. by schwaang (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:10PMRe:WARNING: Written by PR department. by iosmart (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:17PMRe:WARNING: Written by PR department. by easttuth (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:18PMRe:WARNING: Written by PR department. by heelios (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:25PMRe:WARNING: Written by PR department. by Wesley Felter (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:59PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Considering the source... by pmike_bauer (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @06:56PM I can see it - but different (Score:5, Insightful) by Dark Paladin (116525) * <jhummel@@@johnhummel...net> on Tuesday October 11, @06:59PM (#13769479) (http://www.theapprenticepaladin.com/) From what I've seen, the excitement of "IPTV" seems to be modeled on the wrong things. "Have four screens at once! Imagine all the TV you'll get!"I think the real magic of IPTV will be convenience. Right now, I have an iPod for Podcasts (yes, the name sucks to some people - deal with it), and a Tivo at home. For some stupid ass reason, Tivo doesn't have their Desktop software with OS X 10.4, but that's another issue.For me, the beauty of IPTV will be watching whatever I want. Whenver I want. Did I miss "Battlestar Gallactica" or the entire first season of "Veronica Mars" (Hey, I've seen the first three episodes - good show). Or "Firefly". With IPTV, and perhaps some sort of subscription in place of my cable, I can see them. Click the button to my set top Tivo-ish device, and I can watch the episode. Or use my account to view it on my phone as I travel nationwide. Or catch it on my laptop. I wouldn't even mind commercials so much (unless they were done in an onerous fashion - ie: if I pay $2 to watch an episode, I better damn well be able to fast forward a commercial if I want).The rest of it ("instant channel changes"? My parents had that with a regular TV - it was called "Hey, kid, change the channel") is fluff. But IPTV has a need now. Look at how many people download episodes off of the net. I'll be honest: if I missed a show (pre-Tivo days), I'd bittorrent it and catch the other episodes later. I'm still hoping that Tivo fixes its desktop software to make it 10.4 compatible so next time I hop on a plane I can watch something there instead of feeling bad for violating intellectual property law by downloading a commercial-less TV episode through a peer to peer network. (Yes, I'm not sure if it's officially illegal or not, but since I'm assuming it is not legal, I still feel bad.)What's going to be interesting is how Microsoft reacts. Right now, Apple has a near lock on the online music industry - and if my theory is right, they're manuevering so that within 5-10 years when iPods are down to $30-$50 apiece (aka - the price of a decent portable CD player right now), they'll make their money by being the driver of online music sales through the iTunes store, thereby becoming the Microsoft of music. (Oh, I'm sure the Apple fans are going to hate me for that one.)My guess is that Apple is now hoping to do the same thing for online video sales. I don't predict an iPod Video tomorrow, but if Apple has an "Airport Express Video" or some other type of device with a tivo-ish remote control interface (store the movies/video podcasts/etc on your PC, stream through the wireless device in a oh-so-Apple cool and simple interface), they could make a move.Microsoft is all about the PC - everything is the PC and serves it. Apple I think has learned that, with the iPod, they can keep the PC in there, but it's a side player; without the PC, the iPod would not function, but it doesn't matter if you use Windows or Mac, Apple still makes money. If they introduced another device that was like that, Apple could continue to have the PC be important, but not the *most* important thing.(Which is why I think their recent market share sales went from 4.5% to 6.6% or something like that according to their latest financial statement - by making the PC unimportant with their devices, they made it easier to buy a Mac. Odd idea, and I'll let someone else tell me how wrong I am.)If they had a device like that, the studios would be, like the iPod, forced to play with them or risk being locked out. MS would rather you bu a "media center PC" - yet another big complicated expensive box for the house, which may be giving them tunnel vision in their IPTV plans. So I'm not sure if they get it - but we'll just have to wait and see.Of course, this is all my opinion. I could be wrong. [ Reply to ThisI'm Very Impressed by MightyMartian (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @07:44PMRe:I can see it - but different by Krach42 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:48PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Over what pipeline? by rubberbando (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @06:59PMRe:Over what pipeline? by Chokolad (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:06PMInstant channel changes!! by DysenteryInTheRanks (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:01PMRe:Instant channel changes!! by bdcrazy (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:29PMI wish... by AnonymousYellowBelly (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:03PMI'm in awe... by xwizbt (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:05PMSlashdot Comments Random Sampling by NthDegree256 (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:05PMCouldn't give a damn by Linker3000 (Score:3)Tuesday October 11, @07:08PMDirecTV has this by Kallahar (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:10PMThe Devil's Playground by Doomedsnowball (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:10PMdon't scare me like that! by v1 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:11PMInnovation... by JordanL (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:11PMWell duh by Solr_Flare (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:12PMbad TV outdone by wardk (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:30PMThink of the children! by havardi (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:30PM2 replies beneath your current threshold.On the eve of Apple announcement by andygrace (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @07:34PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.single play DVD? by pbjones (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:34PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Instant channel changes? by fbg111 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:39PM IPTV as development tool? (Score:4, Insightful) by grcumb (781340) on Tuesday October 11, @07:41PM (#13769772) (http://www.goofalicious.com/) I haven't seen anyone comment on this yet, so here goes....The summary states that MS hopes to partner with developing nations like China and India to use IPTV as an educational tool. As someone who works full-time on IT in development, I'd like to offer my considered opinion that this is one of the worst possible suggestions one could possibly make.The resource requirements for a service such as this would be incredibly expensive, especially relative to the amount of money available. Most importantly, it would require a massively centralised infrastructure that is almost the exact opposite of the kind of setup that would actually benefit rural communities. Production studios, distribution facilities, high bandwidth network infrastructure in places that barely even have a power grid - how could this possible look like a good idea?I'll tell you how: MS is doing the same thing that the IMF and others have done for decades. They're trying to sucker these countries into building a system that will keep them chained to MS for an entire generation, simply by tying a ribbon around it and saying, 'Think of the children!'It is, in my opinion, a cynical and calculated move to take money from the hands of those who could make a real difference and put it into the hands of the rich.It sickens me to see people taking advantage of others who are poor and ignorant. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens all the time in developing nations. It looks like MS is growing up as a corporation, and learning to follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before. [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold.Swe(buffering...45%)et! by Optic7 (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:46PMWay to go MSFT... by HockeyPuck (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:56PM2 replies beneath your current threshold.I can see it now... by Cytlid (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:00PMSounds good by flamingiceclone (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:16PMYea invisible to the consumer, until ... by olddotter (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @08:46PMRe:Yea invisible to the consumer, until ... by olddotter (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @09:33PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Microsoft innovates by amichalo (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @08:55PMimagine four live pictures on a screen at once by porky_pig_jr (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:01PMEducation? by Fortress (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:22PMIPTV vs. Satellite Direct.. no contest by xtal (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:22PMSasktel Max by Alistar (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @09:34PMInstant channel changes! by SuperMog2002 (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @09:42PMRe:Instant channel changes! by Utopia (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @09:48PMIPTV is already here, just not M$'s... by Tanmi-Daiow (Score:1)Tuesday October 11, @09:48PMBuffering... by StikyPad (Score:2)Wednesday October 12, @12:48AMRe:Slashdot Censors Dissenting Views by dustinbarbour (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @06:50PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:for the love of $diety... by The_Quinn (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:27PMRe:My attempt at a +5 funny.. by boomgopher (Score:2)Tuesday October 11, @07:50PM19 replies beneath your current threshold.