------------------------------------ Cable providers, manufacturers see set-top boxes as next media frontier May 4, 2005 12:00am Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution May 3--The lowly set-top box, that unassuming plastic block that connects your television to your cable company, is about to become much, much more. ... Also, Barrett added, consumers typically would rather get their technology and entertainment from a single source than to cobble together different technologies themselves. "If they're going to do it, they're going to call a service provider ... who for $100 a month can give them Internet access, telephony, games, movies, DVRs, home security and this and that," Barrett said. "And if it doesn't work, there's one provider they can call" to fix it. -------------------------------------- Some of the problem with this article might just be in the presentation. It sounds as if they want to cram this big, powerful, central box down every household's throat. That may not be what they truly intend. As written, this article is full of legacy thinking. It harkens back to the '50s and '60s sci fi movies, in which "high tech" meant being tied to the big central mainframe. Like "Hal" in "2001, A Space Odyssey." Better go with "a la carte" cable interface boxes, giving each host device as much freedom as possible to perform its own function as the designer intended. For that matter, allowing each household setup to be as simple as that household's needs permit. Not as complicated as the worst-case household might require. Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.