Re: I dont want Windows on TV
"Smart TVs are the rage. but for some reason, clunky and really needing some improvements. My point, there is room to grow in that area. MS could really hit a home run in this evolution if..."
Interesting, isn't it.
Smart TV should actually have been a natural winner for MS; it shares many (but not all) of the commercial characteristics of MS normal territory:
* deals are done with a small number of device manufacturers (PC: Dell, HP, etc,. TV/STB: Pace, Samsung, etc) rather than individual end users
* deals (or at least co-operation) are also needed with the "content providers" whose high value content must be protected from unauthorised copying at all costs (cf "application providers").
And sometimes strategic product design deals with MS are done direct at near-CEO level rather than the usual process of designers and engineers looking rationally at what options are available and making a business decision based on the facts.
Yet, despite everything that should be in their favour, how far have MS got in the smart TV/set top box market?
Did you even know they were trying to be a player in that market?
Well they were and one of their bigger "successes" back in the day was in the UK with the early incarnations of BT Vision.
How's BT Vision going for MS now?
The latest incarnation of BT Vision, for the last couple of years, no longer uses Microsoft software.
And even more amazingly, MS manage this in a market where (as you rightly point out) some of the UIs on "smart TVs" are some of the worst UI designs people have ever seen.
Sell.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
