AOL-TV brings forth embedded Linux – by stealth

2000-01-07

Web TV has been long-predicted but, so far, has failed to stoke up the interest of the mass market. With the launch of AOL into the market, this looks set to change. And it looks like, where AOL goes, Linux is destined to follow.

At the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, AOL showed off its interactive TV services which it is to launch, with satellite company DirecTV. The AOL solution is to use rebadged set-top boxes from Philips Electronics and from Hughes Network Systems. AOL intends to leverage the 20 million subscribers it already has, based on which (if it plays its cards right) it should secure it a substantial proportion of the 30 million US households predicted to be using interactive TV by 2004.

All very well and good so far, but – where’s the Linux link? There is currently one element missing from AOL’s portfolio. The current devices do not yet have the capability of caching live TV broadcasts such that they can be paused, rewound or just watched at a later date. Both Philips and Hughes intend to include such facilities in the future, and are licensing technology from TiVo to this end. TiVo products are based on a PowerPC architecture running (you guessed it) an embedded Linux kernel.

Should AOL’s strategy go to plan, the positive knock-on effects for Linux could be staggering with millions of consumers using devices with “Linux inside”. Consumers who turn to AOL are unlikely to care what operating system is running in the set-top box. Manufacturers and software vendors will care, indeed they will be watching with baited breath. Despite Linux’s strengths as an embedded operating system, its success in the consumer market will be more dependent on manufacturers’ preparedness to use the platform. Given a successful launch by AOL, other large-scale manufacturers will likely jump on the bandwagon: once established, there will be little that other companies can do to prevent the success of embedded Linux as a platform. Coupled with Intel’s recent announcements, it would appear that the future dominance of Linux on embedded devices is unassailable.

(First published 7 January 2000)