PCs: Redefining "entertainment"
C|Net | at | by Mike
This holiday season, a new breed of Windows PCs will land on store shelves. The question is whether people will go for them. Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and some other PC manufacturers will be selling upscale Windows XP computers with Freestyle, an additional software module from Microsoft that lets consumers use their PCs to record TV programs like a TiVo set-top box. Freestyle PCs will also come with a remote control.
It hasn't been determined whether Microsoft will eventually integrate Freestyle fully into the OS to create a new species of XP, or how much more Freestyle PCs will cost. Nonetheless, consumers will be well aware that they are getting something different.
Freestyle PCs could further prod consumers into thinking of their computers as the nerve center of home entertainment, a long-sought goal throughout the industry.