The so-called browser wars have become about as suspenseful as watching professional wrestling reruns on TV: the outcome doesn't really matter. While Navigator and Explorer ring up the press releases announcing new licensing deals, the battle for Net supremacy is being waged outside the confines of the Web - on the desktop.
Creative Labs, the Milpitas, California, company best known for making Sound Blaster sound cards, hopes that the rush to the desktop will open the doors for what may be the next online pot of gold.
Its product, Passport, is a specialty Net appliance that receives audio, video, and multimedia entertainment through a single interface running outside the browser. Passport can be used to browse the Web, but it also receives multiple streams of netcasted entertainment from other sources. No plug-ins, no URLs, no search engines - you just select the channels you want and enjoy them through Passport. Perhaps not surprisingly, its interface looks remarkably like - and is about as easy to use as - a car stereo.
While Passport is a relatively compelling app, it's important to remember that Creative Labs is squatting on real estate that Netscape and Microsoft will soon be moving onto. In the middle of this year, Microsoft will release Active Desktop while Netscape unwraps Constellation. All of these technologies seek to untangle the Web by turning the entire desktop into a push-media tuner.
In this bright push future, some companies will make money building components - PointCast on Active Desktop is an example. Others will seek their fortunes building architectures to house these components - Constellation and Active Desktop come to mind.
So, is Passport component or architecture? Much like the browser wars, it doesn't matter. Passport works as an audiovisual receiver within the desktop and as an architecture that streams the content. Either way, the browserless desktop is about to hit its stride, and even companies that make their money from hardware, such as Creative Labs, are looking for a piece of the action.
Released: February. Creative Labs: +1 (408) 428 6600.
