The announcement of Google’s Media Server, which allows a Windows PC to serve up video, images and music to UPnP enabled devices, is another move towards a Google OS. The Google Media Server requires the Google Desktop 5 or above. This could be another step towards a “Google Inside” type approach whereby a common appliance might serve up a complete suite of applications, including Google’s word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software. To read one of the strategic reasons why Google might pursue this strategy, please review this article from a couple of years ago.
Apple’s iTV or Google TV – A Trojan Horse for Something Bigger? October 4, 2006 [Club Viodi Members Only]
[Note: On 7/4, I downloaded and tried the Google Media Server. As an average consumer, the benefits didn’t immediately jump out at me. The Wii did not show up as a networked device nor did any of my PCs, so I wasn’t able to view media from the Google Media Server on other PCs or on the Wii. The good news is that I spent no more than 15 minutes downloading and testing, so it wasn’t a huge timesink. I see the potential, but I don’t think they are there yet.]
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