JR: You raise a very important point. The common misconception is that Windows CE is just a cut down version of Windows 98. That they just took a bunch of code out so that they could jam it into a smaller device. That is, in fact, absolutely incorrect. Windows CE is a totally redesigned operating system literally built from the ground up with its own small module kernel and all these services built around it so that it could go after this huge range of devices, some of which have a user interface like the handheld PC and the Palm-sized PC and others which have a very different user interface like what's in the AutoPC. And then if you jump to another extreme, the Sega box, we're in a game console where Windows CE is downloaded with the app so that it can run the game. And you don't see any of Windows whatsoever. So it's not just the Windows interface that you've seen, the Windows that people are familiar with.

DG: Definitely not your father's operating system.

JR: Though, frankly, it may have ease of use characteristics in the operating system that you want your father to use. It's really the one that my father's probably going to be exposed to first. He has yet to enter the computer age, and I bought him a WebTV. So it quite possibly may be the one that brings a lot of these non-PC homes into the computer age.

DG: Since you've mentioned WebTV, here at our company the two founders are avid WebTV fans. I'm on my second box and I think that Denise is about ready to go for her second as well. At one point I heard that WebTV was moving towards Window CE. Can you tell me what the party line is on that?

JR: Their product plan is to host their services on top of Windows CE. And that'll happen within the next year. I'm not sure what product release it will be in, whether it'll be in the release that's for this coming fall or not. But it is on their roadmap and they're developing on top of Windows CE. And the reason they are is that when they do that, they get to take advantage of all the Windows CE services. So as soon as they want to tie into a broader home network, they can just rely on Windows CE having done that work for them. They can just plug into that. When they want to run the latest browser technology or something, they can just get that essentially free from running on top of Windows CE and focus on their integration -- which is creating the optimal TV computing experience.

DG: So Windows CE on a WebTV environment would allow the user experience to remain a WebTV experience and yet the underlying technology would be broader. For example, I have a dedicated dual ISDN network and an Ethernet in my house and yet I still have to dial out on the WebTV. We'd be able to plug them together, in theory.