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1143 f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	1 <?xml version="1.0" ?>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	2 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
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f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	4 <!-- This article was copied from
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	5 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.09/microware.html -->
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	6 <article>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	7 <articleinfo>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	8 <author><firstname>Stephen</firstname><surname>Jacobs</surname>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	9 <authorblurb>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	10 <para>Stephen Jacobs is a contributing editor for Videomaker magazine.</para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	11 </authorblurb>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	12 </author>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	13 <title>David Versus Goliath</title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	14 <abstract>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	15 <para>Little Microware has a rock called OS-9 in its sling as it takes on
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	16 the giants in the battle to own the multimedia set-top box.</para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	17 </abstract>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	18 <copyright>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	19 <year>1993</year>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	20 <year>2002</year>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	21 <holder>The Condé Nast Publications Inc. All rights reserved.</holder>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	22 </copyright>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	23 <publisher><publishername>Wired Digital, Inc.</publishername></publisher>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	24 <pubdate>Sep 1994</pubdate>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	25 <issuenum>2.09</issuenum>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	26 </articleinfo>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	27
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	28
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	29 <para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	30
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	31
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	32 In case you hadn't noticed, everyone's talking interactive TV these days.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	33 Product trials, broken deals, mergers, start-ups - there's a rash of ploys
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	34 to make your boob tube brilliant by hooking a computer to it. To many in
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	35 this country, the word computer is still wedded to images of Silicon Valley
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	36 and Microsoft, the company that strides the personal computing landscape
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	37 like a Goliath. Chairman Bill Gates has said Microsoft is spending a cool
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	38 US$100 million a year on developing software for multimedia, interactive
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	39 television, and the information superhighway. The popular wisdom says that
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	40 what Bill wants, Bill gets. Yet some of the hottest developments in software
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	41 for interactive television are happening nowhere near Silicon Valley;
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	42 they're happening thousands of miles away in the Midwest.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	43
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	44
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	45 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	46
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	47
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	48 Des Moines, Iowa, is not the city that most of us would pick as the site of
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	49 a burgeoning industry revolution. But then, Des Moines surprises. Sure, it's
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	50 a small Midwest town surrounded by flat and well-farmed land, but that's not
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	51 all there is to it. There's a Thai restaurant whose zillion-page beer list
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	52 boasts brews from all over the world. There's a monumental modern Civic
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	53 Center whose concert hall hosts world-class guitarists. And there's
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	54 Microware Systems Corporation, a 200-employee, privately held corporation
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	55 that makes an operating system called OS-9.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	56
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	57
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	58 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	59
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	60
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	61 Microware is headquartered in a 25,000-square-foot building just down the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	62 road from the offices of the National Pork Producer's Council. So far, it
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	63 may not sound like anything to get excited about. OS-9 was created to
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	64 control manufacturing and robotics applications. The latest addition to its
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	65 product line, Digital Audio Video Interactive Decoder (DAVID), is a version
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	66 of OS-9 for set-top terminals, the cable decoder boxes of interactive
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	67 television.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	68
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	69
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	70 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	71
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	72
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	73 DAVID is the program that runs "under the hood," the skeleton around which
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	74 user interfaces will be built by manufacturers of the terminals. It must be
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	75 a pretty impressive set of bones - it's been licensed to 15 manufacturers of
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	76 set-top terminals for interactive television, including IBM, Philips, Zenith
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	77 Corporation, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Kyocera, GoldStar, Samsung, Adaptive
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	78 MicroWare, Divicom, and EURODEC. By the time you read this, more will be on
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	79 board. Oracle's media servers will communicate with these DAVID-based
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	80 set-top boxes in Bell Atlantic interactive television trials in New Jersey
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	81 and Northern Virginia. (A groundbreaking Federal Communications Commission
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	82 decision in June cleared the way for Bell Atlantic to compete with cable in
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	83 providing video programming in Tom's River, New Jersey.) Other announced
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	84 interactive TV trials that are using DAVID include Nynex's Manhattan and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	85 Rhode Island trials; Cox Communications's trial in Omaha, Nebraska; Telecom
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	86 Australia's system; and Hong Kong Telecom's system.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	87
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	88
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	89 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	90
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	91
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	92 Though Microware's operating system was developed for manufacturing and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	93 process control, it also has been used in multimedia for some time. DAVID
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	94 has its roots in the operating systems for Tandy's Color Computer 3 and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	95 Philips CD-I, which are versions of OS-9 with platform-specific modules.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	96 Even so, conventional wisdom puts a small, relatively unknown software
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	97 company at a disadvantage against a major player like Microsoft.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	98
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	99
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	100 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	101
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	102
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	103 Predictably, Microware President Ken Kaplan doesn't see it that way.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	104
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	105
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	106 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	107
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	108
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	109 "I don't know what other people think, but I just don't think Microsoft's
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	110 gonna be a player. I just think it's too late. We've been working on this
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	111 for two, three years. We've got real product. By the time they figure out
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	112 how to put Windows on a set-top box, we'll have a couple of million boxes
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	113 out there and working. At least that's the plan," says Kaplan.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	114
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	115
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	116 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	117
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	118
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	119 Since 1977, Microware has been developing ROMable (i.e., small enough
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	120 to fit in the Read Only Memory chips on a system's motherboard)
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	121 real-time operating systems, and doing quite well, thank you.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	122 Microware began when, as Drake University students, Ken Kaplan and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	123 Larry Crane (vice president of advanced research) got a grant from the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	124 National Science Foundation to write software for first-generation
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	125 microprocessors. They started with the Motorola 6800 - the precursor
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	126 to the 68000 series of CPUs that would drive the Macintosh. This work
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	127 led them to develop RT/68, a small, efficient multitasking operating
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	128 system for industrial applications. Kaplan and Crane founded Microware
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	129 to develop and sell RT/68, putting a small ad in <emphasis>Byte</emphasis> magazine.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	130 Orders began rolling in from around the world. Physicist Rudolf Keil
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	131 at the University of Heidelberg used RT/68 to control lasers for
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	132 physics research. More than an early user, Keil was one of the first
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	133 Microware customers to begin working with the company. He ended up
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	134 leaving the university to become Microware's German
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	135 distributor.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	136
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	137 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	138
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	139
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	140 Motorola was so pleased with RT/68 that in 1978 the company asked Microware
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	141 to develop a Basic language for the 6809 processor, the bridge chip between
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	142 the 6800 and Motorola's popular 68000 series. Microware began developing the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	143 Basic and an operating system to go with it. That was the beginning of OS-9.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	144 Kaplan and his team modeled OS-9's I/O and process handling after those in
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	145 Unix, which at the time was a relatively unknown operating system.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	146 Microware's decision to use Unix as a model may have been a gamble then, but
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	147 it has proved to be a fortuitous choice: Unix has since grown to become the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	148 lingua franca of the Internet. As a result, the OS-9 of a decade ago was
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	149 more ready for the information superhighway than many other operating
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	150 systems are today.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	151
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	152
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	153 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	154
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	155
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	156 OS-9 is popular in industrial applications worldwide for robotics,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	157 telecommunications, or any other type of application that requires a small,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	158 on-board operating system to handle a large number of processes extremely
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	159 quickly. The head of Microware's French office, Nick Rainey, ticked off
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	160 several applications that have made OS-9 popular in Europe:
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	161
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	162
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	163 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	164
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	165
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	166 "CERN, the particle accelerator; the French pay-phone systems that now run
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	167 off 'smart cards' - that's OS-9; British Telecom; subway systems. I had a
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	168 big surprise when I went to open the Russian office. They took me over to
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	169 see the space flight simulators, and they'd been running the whole system
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	170 off a version of OS-9 that they'd bootlegged from some Germans somewhere.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	171 They were really glad to see us!"
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	172
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	173
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	174 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	175
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	176
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	177 OS-9 made early inroads in Japan, when Fujitsu made 6809-based personal,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	178 multitasking computers for the Japanese market. In the US, OS-9 can be found
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	179 in NASA simulators as well. Flight simulators, maintenance, and testing
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	180 equipment for McDonnell-Douglas, Lockheed, and Boeing also run off of OS-9.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	181 Microware's sales are pretty well divided into thirds between the US,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	182 Europe, and the Pacific Rim.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	183
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	184
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	185 </para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	186
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	187 <section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	188 <title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	189 Coming into view
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	190 </title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	191
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	192 <para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	193
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	194
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	195 Microware seemed to burst into public view from nowhere when Bell
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	196 Atlantic announced specifications for its interactive services in
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	197 January 1994. The specs could only be met by terminals running DAVID.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	198 This was a surprise, as Bell Atlantic had released a preliminary set
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	199 of specs several months before that appeared to be based on Modular
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	200 Windows, Microsoft's now-dead operating system for multimedia. In
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	201 reaction to the Bell Atlantic announcement, the January 18 <citetitle>Wall
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	202 Street Journal</citetitle> ran a feature story about Microware. Since then,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	203 Kaplan and company have been signing set-top box contracts right and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	204 left.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	205
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	206
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	207 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	208
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	209
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	210 Modular Windows is kind of a mystery. Apparently, it was to have been
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	211 a smaller, faster, trimmer version of the Windows operating system for
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	212 set-top boxes. It has been replaced by a new system from Microsoft
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	213 called Tiger. The <citetitle>Wall Street Journal</citetitle> piece left the impression
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	214 that Bell Atlantic ran DAVID and Modular Windows in competition and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	215 chose Microware over Microsoft.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	216
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	217
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	218 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	219
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	220
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	221 Not true, says Microware's multimedia marketing manager Arthur Orduna. "We
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	222 didn't go head-to-head with Modular Windows because there was nothing to go
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	223 head-to-head with."
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	224
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	225
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	226 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	227
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	228
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	229 Orduna says Bell Atlantic asked Microware to assemble an OS-9 comparison
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	230 chart, something that would list the specifications and merits of several
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	231 different operating systems. Microware was unable to obtain the information
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	232 it needed on Modular Windows.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	233
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	234
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	235 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	236
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	237
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	238 "First I called Microsoft directly, and all I could get was 'Give us your
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	239 number and we'll call you back.' Then we asked a friend of ours to call
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	240 Microsoft as a developer and ask about Modular Windows, the normal sort of
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	241 play-acting shit we get from our competitors. What our friend got for an
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	242 answer was 'Well ... give us all the specs and information about the system
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	243 you're developing and we'll call you back.' "
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	244
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	245
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	246 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	247
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	248
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	249 Microware struggled to find someone who knew or would talk about
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	250 Modular Windows. They finally found a source at Tandy, where Modular
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	251 Windows was being used in the development of a home entertainment
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	252 system prototype. (Microsoft wouldn't talk about it with
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	253 <citetitle>Wired</citetitle>, either, but at press time has just announced its Tiger
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	254 database for interactive set-top
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	255 boxes.)
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	256
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	257 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	258
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	259
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	260 "We talked to this technician who worked on their interactive project," says
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	261 Orduna. "He really didn't have specs either, but he bitched and bitched
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	262 about the integration process and how difficult it was to implement Modular
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	263 Windows on a consumer platform. So I called back the project manager at Bell
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	264 Atlantic and told him 'I'm faxing you back this OS-9 comparison chart, and I
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	265 really have to apologize beforehand for the gaping holes in there on the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	266 Modular Windows part because we don't know them. But, we have the number of
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	267 this engineer you can call, and he can give you some insight on what it's
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	268 like to integrate Mod Windows on a consumer platform.' A couple days later
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	269 they said, 'OK, you're it.' "
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	270
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	271
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	272 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	273
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	274
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	275 As a corporate entity, Bell Atlantic didn't make an agreement with Microware
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	276 or specify DAVID as <emphasis>the</emphasis> operating system for its set-top terminals. It
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	277 merely published a set of specifications that only DAVID could meet. No deal
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	278 has been cut between the two companies, allowing each to keep its freedom
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	279 and avoiding any accusations of monopolistic or restrictive behavior on the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	280 part of Bell Atlantic.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	281
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	282
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	283 </para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	284 </section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	285 <section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	286 <title>Multimedia experts?</title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	287
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	288 <para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	289
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	290
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	291 CERN and French smart cards may sound far removed from the world of home
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	292 entertainment systems, but Microware got its foot in that door a long time
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	293 ago. The company has been slowly building a presence in consumer electronics
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	294 since the early '80s. That's when Tandy used OS-9 in the Radio Shack Color
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	295 Computer, fondly remembered by some as the CoCo 3.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	296
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	297
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	298 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	299
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	300
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	301 "We did the original operating system for the Tandy Color Computer," says
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	302 Kaplan. "We did a windowing GUI for that called Multiview. So we always
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	303 thought that OS-9 would be a good operating system for consumers. No one
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	304 back in those days was thinking about multimedia."
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	305
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	306
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	307 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	308
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	309
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	310 What they were thinking about was game machines. In the mid-1980s Microsoft
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	311 announced MSX (Microsoft Extended Basic), a product that was supposed to be
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	312 an industry standard for computer/game machines like the Commodore 64 and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	313 the Atari 800. Microsoft worked with ASCII Corp. in Japan to push the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	314 standard to a consortium of manufacturers including Sony, Matsushita, and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	315 Yamaha. The plan was to introduce it in Japan and then bring the systems to
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	316 the states. It was not successful. In January 1986 Microsoft announced its
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	317 long-term commitment to CD-ROM development. By February 1986 Microsoft and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	318 ASCII Corp. had dissolved their relationship.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	319
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	320
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	321 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	322
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	323
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	324 Meanwhile, Microware's work for Tandy brought the firm to the attention of
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	325 Philips. Philips had made an early video game system called the Magnavox
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	326 Odyssey and had asked Microware to collaborate on a new product - originally
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	327 envisioned as a type of rack-mountable game system. (It eventually evolved
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	328 into CD-I.) After evaluating systems from 60 other companies, Philips
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	329 decided to ask Microware to develop CD-I's CD-RTOS, the operating system in
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	330 every Philips CD-I System.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	331
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	332
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	333 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	334
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	335
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	336 Microware got the CD-I contract in January 1986, and in the summer of 1986
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	337 Kaplan got a phone call from Silicon Valley. Bill Gates wanted to buy the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	338 company. Kaplan didn't want to sell but was willing to talk about joint
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	339 ventures. Gates wasn't. The negotiations ended there before they had
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	340 started, and Gates's picture earned a place of honor on Kaplan's dart board.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	341
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	342
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	343 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	344
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	345
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	346 In the meantime, to support CD-I development, Microware formed two joint
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	347 ventures in the interactive media field. The first is called OptImage. "Both
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	348 Philips and Microware had to develop software and hardware to make discs,"
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	349 says Kaplan. "It's a chicken-and-egg problem. We needed to make discs to
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	350 test our software, to test the prototypes. It wouldn't be a core business
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	351 for either Philips or Microware, but somebody had to do it." Another
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	352 Microware joint venture called MicroMall has been running CD-I-based
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	353 shopping and information kiosks in several areas, including Chicago, as a
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	354 preliminary step in designing shopping services for interactive television.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	355 The digital interactive "catalogs" at the heart of the systems use digital
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	356 stills, audio, and video to display items from J C Penney, Land's End, and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	357 others.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	358
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	359
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	360 </para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	361
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	362 </section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	363 <section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	364 <title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	365
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	366 Getting on the Net
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	367 </title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	368
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	369 <para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	370
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	371
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	372 While he was working with Philips on CD-I, Kaplan began hearing about
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	373 another form of future multimedia
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	374 delivery.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	375
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	376 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	377
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	378
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	379 "Not long after we got involved with CD-I and understood digital audio and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	380 digital video, it became clear that ultimately audio and video could be
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	381 delivered by a network," says Kaplan. "Maybe it would be even better to
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	382 deliver it via a network rather than via optical disk, but the transmission
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	383 technology and the digital video compression weren't quite there yet. I
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	384 remember back in '86 the Philips engineers said, 'There's a way to do it; we
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	385 can't make the silicon yet, but in four or five years we will.' So it was
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	386 known back then that it was doable."
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	387
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	388
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	389 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	390
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	391
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	392 OS-9's popularity in the telephone-switching world had landed Microware on
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	393 an advisory committee for Bell Atlantic. At about the same time that Philips
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	394 was beginning to talk about digital video, the phone companies were talking
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	395 about it as well. Bell Atlantic was starting to talk about sending digital
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	396 video over copper wires. Bell Atlantic asked Microware if the OS-9 inventor
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	397 wanted to participate in some of the research. About two years ago,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	398 Microware realized that if it combined OS-9 modules written for phone
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	399 switching and telecommunications networking with the modules written for
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	400 digital audio and video, they had all the parts of an operating system for
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	401 set-top terminals. Soon after that, DAVID was born.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	402
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	403
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	404 </para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	405
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	406 </section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	407 <section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	408 <title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	409
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	410 Driving a prototype
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	411 </title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	412 <para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	413
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	414
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	415 Recently, the folks from Microware have found themselves at a lot of trade
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	416 shows to show off DAVID, either on their own or sharing booths with Oracle
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	417 or set-top terminal manufacturers. If you walked into these booths, you'd
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	418 see a demonstration of digital video on demand being driven by a DAVID
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	419 set-top box talking to a video server. Additional DAVID networking protocols
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	420 on the set-top box and the server would be handling the communications
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	421 between the server's operating system and the DAVID system in the set-top
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	422 terminal. Of course, all this is transparent to you. All you see is the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	423 interface designed by the set-top box manufacturer and the video delivered
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	424 by the server.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	425
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	426
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	427 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	428
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	429
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	430 At a recent demonstration in Des Moines, Microware used a Kyocera prototype
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	431 set-top terminal. About the size of a standard cable decoder, the box came
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	432 with one of those massive, 3,000-button multiremotes that are becoming
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	433 standard in the consumer electronics industry. What wasn't standard were the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	434 cursor-control-style keys in one section of the remote. Those were the ones
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	435 that drove the interactive part of the terminal.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	436
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	437
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	438 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	439
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	440
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	441 The video was delivered by one of Microware's prototyping servers, through
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	442 T1 lines to the local phone company offices several miles away in downtown
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	443 Des Moines. The remote could perform VCR-type functions on the digitized
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	444 video quickly and with no sync problems. The system responded instantly,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	445 much faster than a VCR. The only downside was the control of the "arrow
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	446 pointer" via the remote: infrared doesn't seem to be the most effective
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	447 communications channel between controller and terminal, and scrolling up and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	448 down a screen is agonizing.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	449
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	450
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	451 </para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	452
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	453 </section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	454 <section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	455 <title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	456
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	457
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	458 So what about Microsoft?
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	459 </title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	460
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	461 <para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	462
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	463
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	464 Since January there's been a lot of press about Microsoft's plans for
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	465 interactive TV. From what's being said, Microsoft's model of a delivery
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	466 system is similar to Microware's.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	467
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	468
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	469 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	470
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	471
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	472 "We're looking at a switching broadband network," says Karl Buhl, marketing
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	473 manager in advanced consumer technology for Microsoft. "We'd have four parts
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	474 to the system: Tiger [Microsoft's current solution] continuous switching at
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	475 the head end, coax from the head end to the home, a set-top terminal in the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	476 home, and a Microsoft software package running the system."
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	477
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	478
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	479 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	480
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	481
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	482 Conventional wisdom says Tiger will blow everything else away. Ken Kaplan
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	483 doesn't buy it. "Microsoft is coming into this business from a standing
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	484 start. No one wants them in this business anyway. They're not welcome."
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	485
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	486
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	487 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	488
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	489
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	490 "If Ken thinks we're not wanted here in the industry he should talk
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	491 with TCI," Buhl counters. He says TCI's trials with Microsoft's Tiger
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	492 technology will begin in Seattle at the end of the year. (See
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	493 <citetitle>Wired</citetitle>'s <ulink url="http://www.wired.com/wired/2.07/features/malone.html">interview
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	494 with TCI head John Malone</ulink>, <citetitle>Wired</citetitle> 2.07)
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	495
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	496
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	497 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	498
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	499
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	500 Obviously, Kaplan thinks it's not too early to count Microsoft out. "Bill
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	501 Gates says he's been spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on this
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	502 business," Kaplan reasons. "Do you know what kind of return he's got to get
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	503 on that investment? There isn't that much money in set-top-box software,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	504 sorry. Microsoft wants to get a piece of everything, probably per
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	505 transaction. The market can't afford that. It can't afford Microsoft, and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	506 those in the industry don't want monopolists dominating their business. Not
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	507 to mention that Microsoft doesn't have a clue about this business. It's a
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	508 TV-set business, not a computer business.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	509
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	510
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	511 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	512
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	513
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	514 "This happened to them once before. They missed the boat totally on
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	515 networking. That's why Novell took off. Bill didn't figure it out, he didn't
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	516 see it coming. He didn't approach it right, and Novell came in and ate his
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	517 lunch."
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	518
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	519
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	520 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	521
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	522
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	523 According to Microware's Orduna, DAVID was not just a lucky acronym
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	524 choice. While the name's been trademarked, the logo hasn't been
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	525 finalized. The first version of the DAVID logo followed the biblical
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	526 metaphor right down to a sling. That got a thumbs down as taking the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	527 joke a bit too far. But if Microware <emphasis>really</emphasis> wants to get
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	528 Microsoft's goat, maybe it'll choose a logo inspired by
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	529 Novell.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	530
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	531
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	532 </para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	533 </section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	534 <section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	535 <title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	536 Why OS-9?
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	537 </title>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	538
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	539 <para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	540
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	541
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	542 Why do set-top terminal companies want a robotics operating system for
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	543 interactive television?
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	544
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	545
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	546 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	547
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	548
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	549 Most personal computing operating systems are large and relatively slow.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	550 They still don't effectively multitask or run more than one application at a
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	551 time. They take up a lot of hard-drive space and memory. The multitasking
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	552 that systems like Windows and System 7 do is "cooperative." Different
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	553 applications rarely stop or pause each other; they wait for breaks in CPU
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	554 usage to have the computer change horses between them without shutting each
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	555 other down. These systems are almost polite. They have response times of
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	556 half a second at best.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	557
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	558
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	559 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	560
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	561
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	562 In robotics or manufacturing systems, operating system needs differ. The
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	563 scope of the operating system doesn't need to be as broad as that of a
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	564 computer operating system, and often it must be able to fit into the system
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	565 memory, right on the circuit board. True multitasking is vital. Different
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	566 applications, or tasks, need to be able to interrupt each other, and
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	567 quickly. A response time of half a second is much too slow.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	568
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	569
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	570 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	571
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	572
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	573 "If a robot arm has reached its position, you probably need to tell it to do
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	574 something immediately," says Peter Dibble, a research scientist for
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	575 Microware. "You can't have it just waiting around while another task clears
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	576 the screen."
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	577
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	578
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	579 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	580
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	581
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	582 Operating systems for set-top terminals must be compact enough not to need a
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	583 lot of memory or a hard drive, in order to keep the cost of the box down.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	584 They must also be fast and multitasking. A half-second response time can
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	585 give you frozen video or garbled audio.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	586
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	587
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	588 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	589
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	590
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	591 "There are a lot of things going on in a set-top box at once," says Curt
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	592 Schwaderer, a principal engineer at Microware. "First, you've got a
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	593 networking front end that's sending data in at 1.544 Mbits per second. While
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	594 all this networking stuff is trying to deal with (all this data coming in
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	595 off the) T1, you've got another piece of the operating system that's taking
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	596 the data and playing a movie with it. Then there's the third, interactive
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	597 part, where you press buttons on a remote control. That requires more
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	598 processing going on inside the box and more networking-type data going back
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	599 and forth over the serial line so that you can do things like Fast-Forward,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	600 Rewind, Stop, Go Back."
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	601
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	602
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	603 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	604
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	605
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	606 OS-9 is modular so that it can fit a wide variety of needs without taking up
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	607 a lot of system resources. A modular operating system allows designers to
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	608 pick exactly which parts they will need. The heart of the operating system,
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	609 called a kernel, fits in only 29 Kbytes of chip memory. DAVID, which is just
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	610 a specific mix of OS-9, networking, and video modules, will fit all the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	611 necessary parts for a set-top terminal OS into about 256 Kbytes of memory
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	612 while running true multitasking, not cooperative multitasking.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	613
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	614
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	615 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	616
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	617
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	618 Some set-top box manufacturers are waiting for the development of a video
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	619 compression scheme more advanced than the current MPEG 1. Not Microware. The
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	620 first DAVID set-top boxes will use systems that TCI initially passed on.
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	621
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	622
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	623 </para><para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	624
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	625
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	626 "I'd rather have something that works this year and see it get better
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	627 later," says Microware's Dibble. "It would be fun to be able to deliver the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	628 set-top box that would start with HDTV and go on from there, the one that
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	629 wouldn't deliver anything but quadraphonic sound and wouldn't work unless
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	630 you had broadband fiber. Maybe that will happen. Maybe if we're lucky we
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	631 will be the people still doing it because we were the ones who delivered the
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	632 relatively not-so-wonderful
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	633 stuff."
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	634
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	635 </para>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	636
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	637
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	638 </section>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	639 </article>
f052edb830d2 Article from 1994 about DAVID with background info about Microware roug parents: diff changeset	640

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