Taiwanese personal computer giant Acer group has unveiled an industry specification for application-specific computing platforms, to be known as ‘X Computers’. With his customary understatement, Acer CEO Stan Shih likens the spec to the invention of movable type. The Internet and the XC are catalysts that will change the world, he claims. Strong words for five variants on an open x86-compatible Internet Protocol reference platform, a platform on which Acer’s definition of ‘ease of use’ consists of support for DOS and Windows CE. The five flavors are the X100 for mobile applications, the X200 for consumer electronics, the X300 for set-top boxes, the X500 for ‘TV-centric’ applications like video- mail and the X700 for gaming, a home theatre or as a home electronics appliance controller. Ambitious manufacturers can add Fast IR, USB, PCI, Flash Card, AC-3, Firewire, DVD, TV-Out and 2D/3D graphics support at will. According to the company, the obstacles preventing Acer penetration into every home on earth include price, the perceived difficulty of using computers, perception of value (or lack thereof) and the question of whether consumers really need a computer at all. In a burst of insight, the company suggests that the general purpose PC may not be the solution for the majority of the world’s needs. Nor is peace or an end to hunger, in case that’s what you were thinking. In fact, it’s the XC. With leading engineering resources… and a vast IT infrastructure of semiconductor, software, storage and display resources, it is a natural evolution that Taiwan be the birth place of the XC, Shih claims. With his passion for publicity and calm air of manifest destiny, it is equally natural that a salesman like Shih should be the XC’s father. Interestingly enough, though Acer claims to be the world’s third largest PC manufacturer, it doesn’t make International Data Corp’s top five vendors by worldwide PC shipments. IDC’s list consists of Compaq, IBM, Dell, HP and Packard Bell-NEC. Still, Acer has a sizeable OEM business which may account for the disparity.
