Today I'd like to focus on another operating system that almost every PC user, from kids to grandparents, knows, namely Windows.
For a long time, Microsoft didn't pay much attention to the mini PC segment. In my opinion, Microsoft only produces commercial products, while other developers have always been leaders in the NET PC and thin client areas. After all, the idea behind such devices was to be cheap, so you can't make much money on them.
The same thing happened with the multimedia segment. Previously, among computer music lovers, the opinion prevailed that a multimedia computer was a very powerful, expensive computer, akin to a gaming one, and often exceeded $ 1,000. Therefore, the cost of an OS license of $ 100-200 was not a large expense compared to the total cost of the entire product.
But times are changing, and thanks to the developers of RISC processors, namely the British company ARM (developer of the processor architecture), in cooperation with newly emerging low-cost manufacturers from the Middle Kingdom, the market for mobile, network and multimedia devices has seen a huge leap forward in sales and a drop in price.
Google wrote its graphical shell for the well-known and reliable Linux in time, the Android system was born, which practically revolutionized the mobile device market.
Further, with the development of Internet access speeds, various video services providing video content via the Internet began to promote themselves. IPTV - television via the Internet - appeared. Google adapted Android and Google TV was born.
Chinese manufacturers began to produce small multimedia computers one after another, each better than the other, and over the 4 years of our statistics, 8 or more cores appeared, and performance increased more than 20 times.
Even earlier, Microsoft tried to create a similar device, they got the XBox, which, in my opinion, was not widespread. Moreover, very good programmers were found and wrote a multi-platform multimedia system XBMC (now KODI) in Python, which was previously planned as a replacement for Windows on the XBox. But it turned out to be so successful that it now has versions for virtually every OS and every computer, mobile or desktop, no matter what.
Chinese media computers began to be produced in the hundreds of thousands and are now being copied by brands, although before it was the other way around. Now it's called a smart word - ODM production. You won't surprise anyone with a TV or multimedia set-top box anymore. They've now begun to appear not only among professionals, but also in large hypermarkets for general use, which practically repeats the fate of the personal computer, only 20 years later.
I think the marketers at Microsoft bit their nails a little, discussed this situation with the largest manufacturer of x86 processors, i.e., Intel, and decided to also enter this market of inexpensive multimedia set-top boxes. This is how the low-cost, low-power Intel Atom Z3735 processor appeared, which can be used for both Android and Windows OS. Knowing the restrictive policies of Microsoft in conjunction with Intel, we are not surprised that the low cost of a Windows 8.1 OEM license of $25 is limited to 2GB of RAM and 32GB of ROM. If you want more, for example, 64GB of ROM flash memory, then you will have to pay more for the license, namely, $40.
What does this mean? Windows will still make some inroads into this market. A sufficient number of mini HTPCs have already appeared, similar to MeLE PCG03, PCG09, PCG01, wIntel Box and others. Many applications written for Windows, plus a familiar interface, will allow Microsoft, together with Intel, to bite off a large piece of the pie from Google with Android and ARM. I think next year will be for Windows HTPC until Microsoft raises the price of licenses. And now the cost of Windows HTPC is almost 2 times higher than a similar one on Android. But, knowing the preferences of our users, we are preparing for the hot launch of mini computers on Windows 8.1 with the size of a regular flash driveMeLE PCG01.
Happy shopping everyone!
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