Linux vendor Red Hat has released the latest version of its Linux operating system for two 64-bit platforms: Compaq Computer's Alpha and Intel's Itanium. The move brings version 7.2 of the most popular Linux distribution to a wider range of hardware.
It's also a boost for the Itanium--Intel's first entry into high-end server chips--which has maintained a low profile since its launch about a year ago. Itanium does not yet have the same range of available applications as other high-end platforms, such as Sun Microsystems' Solaris or Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX.
Linux--with a strong developer community and a flexibility that allows the Unix clone to run on numerous chips--has become an asset the chipmakers want on their sides as they prepare future chip designs. Linux has become a tool to secure quick support for a new chip.
Alpha, once considered to be at the leading edge of high-end chip technology, was developed by Digital Equipment, which was later bought by Compaq.
News source: Cnet
It's also a boost for the Itanium--Intel's first entry into high-end server chips--which has maintained a low profile since its launch about a year ago. Itanium does not yet have the same range of available applications as other high-end platforms, such as Sun Microsystems' Solaris or Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX.
Linux--with a strong developer community and a flexibility that allows the Unix clone to run on numerous chips--has become an asset the chipmakers want on their sides as they prepare future chip designs. Linux has become a tool to secure quick support for a new chip.
Alpha, once considered to be at the leading edge of high-end chip technology, was developed by Digital Equipment, which was later bought by Compaq.
News source: Cnet
"This is a device that takes our individual products and ties them all together into a system," he said. "As you start to build a personal collection of digital music, you can share it in your house, take it to your car, take it to the gym with you or burn CDs for an airplane."
From DVD players to online radio stations, digital entertainment distribution is a area of rapid growth for consumer hardware makers and audio and video content providers, as consumers embrace new technology that allows them to carry personalised music collections and share with others.
Toward that end, the Advanced Digital Music center is equipped with a modem, which will allow it eventually to send and receive music over the Internet. At some point in the future, people will be able to buy and download tunes and then "stream," or broadcast, them to others.
"Today, that doesn't mean a lot other than the ability to identify your CDs" via an online catalog service, Wolfe said. "But in the future, it is a way to acquire content from the Internet without needing to have a PC involved."
Competition and lawsuits
Sonicblue has made a plethora of changes since it changed its name from S3 a year ago and switched from making graphics chips to selling digital entertainment products, such as MP3 players and its recently launched ReplayTV digital video recorder (DVR).
Much of that ruckus, however, has been in courtrooms rather than retail showrooms. Sonicblue last week sued rival TiVo, charging that TiVo's technology infringes on Sonicblue's DVR patents. Further, Sonicblue in October was sued by the major television networks, which claim that the DVR allows people to improperly duplicate and distribute copyrighted material, as well as skip advertisements, thereby robbing the networks of revenue. The networks seek to halt the sale of the DVR.
Sonicblue insists that this time around, it expects to avoid that kind of controversy. Although the Advanced Digital Audio Center is technically capable of being a distribution hub for digital music, it is limited for now to sharing tunes within the home.
"It is not a Napster server," Wolfe said, referring to the popular service that was sued by the music industry for fostering copyright infringement by its millions of users. "We have been very careful with this product to try to respect copyright because we believe that an important part of the value of this product is to purchase music on it.
"We believe we have followed the law, but we still have tried to make available all of the things that customers do."
Despite its legal concerns, Sonicblue's toughest challenge will likely come from its stiff competition, the deep-pocketed consumer electronics giants such as Philips Electronics, Compaq Computer, Sony and Microsoft.
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