There mere sight of the above statement will have audiophiles and home entertainment addicts worried beyond belief, what does Microsoft think its doing entering the last domain as yet relatively untouched by the hand of gates?

It seems that after this months Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Microsoft is really set on making its software the heart of the home entertainment system, not content with domination of PC / PDA markets it wants in on the TV market, In his keynote speech Gates announce new products that would start to blue the divide between the PC and the TV in fact the next version of Windows XP (codenamed longhorn) would contain home entertainment features beyond windows media player.

Microsoft has long held ambitions to get in on the consumer entrainment sector, the Xbox was launched into both gaming and DVD replay markets as a king of Trojan horse to gain foothold and has been moderately successful, but the latest announcements show a shift in direction the PC already in millions of homes will become the hub with new software allowing it to connect to the television.

The key product is the windows media centre extender which will be produced by the big players Dell, HP and Samsung, this is intended a s a bridge between the PC and the humble TV, its the way Microsoft are to get into your living room and take control of what gets to your TV, nothing that sinister here but the future holds wider ramifications.

What's next in the Microsoft plan of world domination, an obvious and key move would to be to persuade display manufacturers to include the Microsoft media centre within devices as standard, so plasmas or TFT TV's with MS media centre "inside" connecting through ADSL/DSL pipes directly to portals controlled by......Microsoft! (and partners).

Its not the first time Gates empire has tried to get into TV, it invested 233 million to buy web TV the interactive TV supplier, but all this coincided with the dotcom bubble bursting and in the end the whole thing was embarrassingly hidden within MSN's internet services wing. Convergence of media formats and the increasing relationship between the web and TV is naturally showing the way to unified devices quite what the current TV moguls will think of Microsoft's strategy is yet to be seen but for once consumers may drive the revolution for Microsoft.

There is an apparent appetite for a networked media experience within the home, preferably wireless and with some elements of on demand viewing / listening with the new generation of consumer prepared to pay for quality content, does this mean Gates has it right? Probably, but will he be allowed to push on alone or will he need to form a pact of media moguls to sit alongside?

Its certainly one to watch as every TV executive and hardware manufacturers would be advised to do, as Mr Gates sits in a black leather chair high up in Microsoft towers stroking a white cat......"Mr Bond I presume would you like to watch TV...on media centre of course"