"When Bill Gates takes the stage tomorrow morning at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, he won't be launching a new generation of the flagship operating system. He'll be looking to stir up some new interest in the existing one," reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
"Microsoft is expected to use the event to unveil a series of new and overhauled digital media products, including a revamped version of its specialized software for watching and recording television and other digital media on a computer" [ie Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, code-named Symphony].
"The overarching initiative is known inside Microsoft as Windows XP Reloaded, said Jim Allchin, Microsoft's group vice president for platforms, in a conversation with Seattle-area reporters earlier this year. Allchin described it as an effort to enhance the operating system's capabilities and do a better job of marketing them to consumers."
AP's take on the story begins: "Efforts by Microsoft Corp. and the PC industry to expand into to the living room will get a boost next week as they show off technologies that try to balance Hollywood's piracy fears with the appeal of digital media. In Los Angeles, Microsoft is expected to unveil Windows Media Center Edition 2005 for entertainment computers as well as other software and gadgets that seek to simplify sharing video and music while enforcing copyrights."
Meanwhile, CRN has the trade news. "Unlike the first generation of the Media Center operating system, which was available to only five or six OEMs, or the second generation, which was available to about 30 OEMs, this version will be open to all system builders, said a Microsoft official during a Thursday night demonstration of the software to solution providers at a D&H Distributing channel event."
