#: 19574 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK)
    11-Jan-94  02:29:38
Sb: #CDI Computer News
Fm: Eric Crichlow 71051,3516
To: All

Fresh back from Winter CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas I thought
some of you might be interested in some of the info I got from the Philips
booth.

    First of all, the following info came from the only man at the show
knowledgeable in the hardware aspects of CDI, since everyone Philips staffed
there was only up on the software end of things. However, this man was "just"
the head of marketing, meaning his specialty still is not in hardware.

    In all the MM/1 accelerator card talk I thought it was said that the
Motorola 68340 was going to be in the next series of CDI players. The guy from
Philips, however, had no knowledge of the 68340 and said that the 68070 would
continue to be used, the only upgrade being the full motion video card (Digital
Video card), which, by the way, is being used for more than just showing movies
off of CD, they were demoing some games which used the Digital Video card. It
would be wise to take this info with a grain of salt, since, as this man
mistakenly thought that the 68070 was a Motorola chip, he could just as easily
be mistaken about the 68340.

    Now for the big question. I asked him about Philips' possible plans to
provide an upgrade for CDI players to become computers. He said that players
continue to be made with the expansion port for just such a possibility. In
fact, the idea is currently being investigated. The big holdup, according to
the marketing rep, is the US government. He said that, due to the possibility
of people being able to easily use a CDI computer to "capture" copywritten
images and use them for their own personal unauthorized use, the government is
reluctant to allow easy public access to such a device. It would seem to me
that doing such things is already childsplay with current computer hardware,
but that's what the man said. Because of this government resistance, he said
not to even expect an announcement on such an expansion product for another 2
to 3 years. He also says that he already knows of someone who has converted has
CDI player into a full fledged computer, and he *thinks* that that computer is
running under OS9.

    The final question I discussed with him was whether or not a CDI computer
from Philips would run OS9 as its primary operating system. He said that it was
a distinct possibility, but not definite.

...Eric...

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