[ExtractStream] Re: My Dangerous Idea - A technical question, not a legal question

[sharkey@a...]

> I don't know about you, but I don't know many VCR manufacturers that 
> actually go and design their own CPU and such. Most VCRs use a 
> *microcontroller*, basically a general purpose CPU+RAM+ROM+other 
> useful things in a chip. So yes, it's a commodity part. Yes, it's a 
> general purpose CPU.

Ok, you're splitting hairs. It depends on your definition of general
purpose CPU. I consider a modern general purpose CPU to be capable
of being reprogrammed in situ, which cannot be said of most
microcontrollers. This is essentially the difference between a
microcontroller and a microprocessor. The Tivo contains a microprocessor
and most VCR's contain a microcontroller. Whether or not you include
microprocessors in with general purpose CPU's is semantic and irrelevant.

The point I wanted to make was that the Tivo needs no special tools for
altering its programming and is even capable of running alternate programming
in parallel with its original programming. It's fundamentally different
from a VCR in this way.

Eric