Microsoft Anticipates Over One Million Users for its IPTV Software

Microsoft has revealed its expectation of more than one million users of its new Mediaroom IPTV software within the next few weeks of the New Year, going by the current trend of demand of the service in the market. It is the company's believe that its over one decade of investing in interactive TV would finally start paving way for successful returns.

While drawing the attention of users to the distinction between IPTV and cable and satellite TV, Peter Barrett who is the current Microsoft's CTO said that the former is equipped to handle lots of demand for on-demand content, while the latter will struggle as content moves to HD. He considers that the popularity of file-sharing services shows that consumers want to get their content anywhere and everywhere. "People are voting for the utility of watching TV on their PC by doing it the hard way," he said. "Setting aside that BitTorrent is largely illegal, it's a chore to use."

He further said that the popularity of file-sharing services shows that consumers want to get their content anywhere and everywhere. "People are voting for the utility of watching TV on their PC by doing it the hard way," he said. "Setting aside that BitTorrent is largely illegal, it's a chore to use."

"These things are not part of the imminent service release, but are inevitable," Barrett said. "It's the sort of thing that's really, really hard to do if you have a broadcast infrastructure."

Microsoft also expects the merging of its IPTV and Media Center PC efforts to ultimately mean that developers can write interactive applications that can run on either set-top boxes or PCs.

Microsoft envisages the kind of bonus interactive features included on high-definition DVDs to eventually be available on video sent to Media Center PCs or Mediaroom set-top boxes. Already, a number of developers are writing programs that can sit on top of Microsoft's interface.

There is a strong market, he believes, for combining the wide selection and quality available via file-sharing, with the ease of use of traditional TV.

Eventually, content could not only be sent throughout the home, but also available remotely on a PC or mobile device.