Another Piece Revealed? Microsoft Alexandria
In the latest image supposedly of a Microsoft Origami device, we saw an app called “Alexandria”. Well, Warner Crocker has tracked down Design Bum, who did work on a video called “Microsoft Alexandria” to be shown before a Bill Gates speech in Vegas recently (presumably CES). The video reveals nothing, but the title makes me wonder.
Design Bum explains:
So, apparently, there was this electronics convention in Vegas and right before Gates was going on, they were supposed to play this MS vision piece that featured some cool stuff. Well, this is that piece. Fad enlisted my help in providing the tasty visuals, mostly on the post production art direction area. You can watch the final piece here.
Now, lets say the Origami Portal image from earlier today was legit, what does that mean? Microsoft can’t possibly be designing a third type of media software, after Windows Media Player and Media Center. If there is an Alexandria, I think it refers not to software, but to the media library. Alexandria would be a new way to access your media.
The idea would be that Origami wouldn’t care where your media is. It could be on the Origami, on a nearby wi-fi PC, on a portable device, or even miles away connected over the internet. Origami would be akin to Apple streaming media over Bonjour, except with more options. Its been rumored for a while that Media Center would get the ability to stream TV over the net; maybe its streaming to an Origami.
Alexandria would be the networking system, the media library that works without boundaries and without messing with network protocols. It would be a seperate system, one that works seperate from Media Player but together with Media Player, getting all your media from all of your devices into a unified library, giving you access to anything anywhere, especially on your Origami.
I’m just tossing out ideas here. Maybe there is no Alexandria. But I still like the idea.
(Found on Findory)
I know what the video is about. These people are speechless, because they’re reading the Alexandria help file, where it says the application utilizes Digital Restrictions Management!
* Disclaimer: this message might not be based on the thruth, or even be partially truthful.
Comment by Tim | March 7, 2006