What Exactly Is Viiv?

Viiv seems to be an attempt to standardize all home entertainment and computing hardware and software to produce a WIntel monopoly. Nothing new there then? Yes there is, the Intel version is an Intel Hardware, chip-set and processor lock-in for the storage, dissemination (within and through the owner's LAN) and production of all computing and entertainment services. A very hard blow against both Mac and OSS systems but also a freeze out of AMD and any other processor manufacturers. I'm guessing that Microsoft are pretty happy to see any system (Intel Viiv or AMD Live) that locks users into a MS Windows operating system and all their (intended) multimedia and other software. I'm a bit bemused that the only real response out in the wild is the AMD announcement that they will have a compatible/competing system soon that does much the same (though no specifics have been aired).

MS have long criticized Apple-Mac and their software but have always, I think, rather liked the way that Mac keeps control of the hardware too - something that has been a "feature" creep of successive Windows releases - this seems to offer that to MS on a plate.

A future of having to rely on MS for codecs and proprietary file "standards" does not fill me full of joy. The real question though is, will the average Joe buying a bright, shiny, new entertainment center even notice or care? Hell, he's just buying a new HiFi, TV, DVD player etc., with a computer thrown in for free. This amalgamation of computer/entertainment center is a white goods exercise, a marketing coup almost by stealth, Intel on the outside is a pure branding and perception shift to give the Intel label the same public recognition as a Panasonic or Phillips label. Intel gains a lion's share of the home electronics market and MS gains monopoly control of the content, distribution and licensing.

Unbundle the browser and media player? No wonder MS is happy to continue its fight with the EU and pay fines, very shortly they won't just control the browser and player market but also the distribution market.

I hope that I'm over playing this but have a nasty feeling that the future I've painted is MS's ultimate aim and without some regulatory interference a very tenable aim too.