Set-top boxes—the next platform (panel)

Successive price/performance iterations in computer and computer graphics technology have increased the penetration of this technology into everyday life. Access to early computer graphics technology, based on large computers and specialized displays, was limited to computer professionals. A larger portion of the population had access to high performance computer graphics technology as prices dropped and performance increased through successive generations of minisupercomputers, workstations, and personal computers. However, this population is still primarily limited to the workplace. Set-top boxes are poised as the next big price/performance step. With this step, computer graphics and high performance computing technology are expected to achieve significant penetration into the home market. How's all this going to happen? What hardware is being built for set-top boxes? What software is going to run on them, both at the systems level and the application level? What communications technologies are going to support all this? What's the market? Who is going to use services provided via set-top boxes? We're already running out of hours in the day to watch television. Are set-top boxes just for entertainment or are they going to facilitate telecommuting, shopping, school homework, etc? Will the television become a household bottleneck? Will set-top boxes succeed in the home market or will elements of the technology be absorbed into the business environment? There is considerable disagreement as to the answers to these questions. Many companies have joined into partnerships to try to grab a portion of the projected market. There's a lot of hype, as there are no real product offerings today.