Microsoft and Apple: Showdown in your living room

Now that the Apple's new set-top-box has been released, dissected and hacked, we can safely say that Apple has moved into the living room. Sure, this places Apple in direct competition with a number of different entertainment devices--from the cable box to the TiVo--but more importantly, it sees Apple entering what's set to become a highly competitive space. Giants like Microsoft and Sony have been eying the living room for a while now and both companies hope to bring some form of online video functionality to your TV set. Unlike Apple, however, Microsoft and Sony are hedging their bets on a pair of Trojan horses: the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game consoles.

Spurred by the release of the Apple TV, Microsoft has announced a number of high-profile partnerships with content providers for its Xbox Live Video Marketplace: A&E Networks, ADV Films, National Geographic, TotalVid.com, Paramount, and Warner Bros. will all sell their television shows and films for download in Microsoft's store. Apple may have a head start but Microsoft has a number of advantages on its side: an installed user base of some 5 million Xbox 360 owners in the U.S., online HD content and direct downloads via the Xbox. Plus, if you plug your Xbox into a Windows Media Center PC, it can operate as a DVR. It's clear that Microsoft is taking the competition seriously and seems to be headed down the right path in offering advanced functionality to the user. Eventually they'd like you to buy a Windows Home Server as well, so that you can have you whole home wirelessly wired for entertainment, using a Microsoft backbone, of course. Online video downloads are growing up and in moving away from the desktop, are set to appeal to an even wider market. Let's just hope that competition continues to breed innovation in the space.

For more on the coming showdown:
- see this Ars Technica article