Apple vs Microsoft: Close call for digital living room

Apple and Microsoft are among the big names battling to dominate digital home entertainment - with the Redmond behemoth launching a home server at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which its chairman Bill Gates hopes will become the back-up repository for families' digital media.

When asked which of the two companies is most likely to win the fight for the digital living room, silicon.com readers gave a surprisingly close result. Apple came out just ahead with 54 per cent of the vote compared to Redmond's 46 per cent.

When announcing the Windows HomeServer product last week, Gates said the need for a server in the home has come about following the explosion in digital content created and stored by individuals and families.

Apple recognised this opportunity back in late 2005 when it launched its iMac G5, which is designed to act as a home entertainment hub. The G5 allows users to back up and access music, DVD movies, photos and television programmes via a remote hand control.

Next up for Apple in this area is a product code-named the 'iTV' - now christened the 'Apple TV' - which is due early this year. This device will allow users to stream music or movies from a PC direct to a television.

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Redmond's HomeServer will run on HP hardware and is due to be released in the second half of 2007.

Like the iMac G5, the HomeServer will be able to back up and play a variety of media and is controlled via a remote handset.

At the launch, Gates said: "You can get up to literally terabytes on this. We think it's a category that can explode in importance."