Electronics Giants Love Linux (Forbes)

[Gary Wilson]

Electronics Giants Love Linux 
Arik Hesseldahl, 07.02.03, 1:45 PM ET 

NEW YORK - If there's ever going to be a great galaxy
of consumer electronics devices that are all connected
by a home network and through that network to the
Internet itself, it's going to run Linux. 

At least that's what some of the world's most
prominent manufacturers have said with the formation
of an industry group--the CE Linux Forum-- that will
promote Linux in future products. 

The companies involved aren't some small batch of
die-hards. They make up the crux of the consumer
electronics industry: Japanese firms Sony (nyse: SNE -
news - people ); Matsushita (nyse: MC - news - people
), parent of Panasonic; NEC (nasdaq: NIPNY - news -
people ); Sharp; Toshiba; and Hitachi (nyse: HIT -
news - people ); Royal Philips Electronics (nyse: PHG
- news - people ) from The Netherlands; and Samsung
from South Korea. IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people )
reportedly wants to join too. 

Certainly the creation of the group is a warning shot
at PC software juggernaut Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT -
news - people ), which thinks home networks, PCs and
consumer electronics should interact without involving
a penguin, the Linux mascot. 

It's clear is what electronics manufacturers don't
want: A royalty bill from Microsoft. Already used to
operating on razor-thin profit margins with the
products they make, using Linux software, which is
freely available, should save them all money on
developing future products. 

For Sony in particular, taking part in the forum is
the latest step in its duel with Microsoft. Linux is
already the basis for Sony's CoCoon initiative, which
involves giving TV sets and other entertainment
devices a network connection, a hard drive and the
ability to connect to broadband Internet connections. 

If Sony's plans are an indication of what to expect
from its new partners, that means an increase in
security for copyrighted digital content such as
movies and music. 

Of course, central to all that is a PC running
Windows. And Microsoft has its own ideas for
connecting the home and all the electronic devices in
it. It has been promoting the Media Center PC version
of the Windows operating system for more than a year
now with some success. The software turns a PC into a
TV, jukebox and a video recorder among other things. 

Its Smart Display technology allows portable
flat-panel displays access to PCs elsewhere in the
home for surfing the Web and accessing PC files. And
its Windows CE .NET software for embedded devices has
been demonstrated on household appliances as diverse
as an exercise bike, a DVD player, a portable digital
media player that can handle music and video, and a
sewing machine. Obviously, there's a battle brewing. 




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