Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!bacchus.pa.dec.com!granite.pa.dec.com!mwm From: mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Communications of the ACM Message-ID: Date: 14 Sep 90 18:05:12 GMT References: <30400@nigel.ee.udel.edu> Sender: news@wrl.dec.com (News) Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica Lines: 37 In-Reply-To: JAGBDED%PANAM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu's message of 14 Sep 90 04:12:20 GMT In article <30400@nigel.ee.udel.edu> JAGBDED%PANAM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu writes: CACM SEP 1990 pg 30: Teleputers: Smart TV That is the party line according to Intel, IBM, and Microsoft, but the entertainment world has also been busy. In the summer of 1991[!], Sony and Phillips will roll out CD-I, and interactive CD player designed to be connected to a tv set. A CD-I player contains an optical disc drive, a Motorola 680X0 CPU, and a megabyte of memory, but it will be marketed as an enhanced CD player, not a computer ... Haven't these guys heard of CDTV? Even if they have, does it really deserve mention? CD-I is a multi-national standard for interactive CD players. Even people who really love the Amiga are wondering how many of them can be sold at around a grand a pop, the key question being "what are they really for?" Sony/Phillips have been working on the answer for longer, and I expect they'll have a cheaper box to sell also. CDTV is going to wind up in the same place CP/M was when IBM announced the IBM-PC. Only they won't have had years of being the biggest game in town to pay for the development. Now, if a CDTV can be convinced to use CD-I disks, and the Sony/Phillips pricing is about the same, the CDTV box is going to be in great shape. But I don't expect the latter, and would have expected the former to be announced if it were possible.