RealOne on Intel Motherboards

CNet reports on a deal between Intel and Real Networks, integrating Real technology into Intel motherboards:

RealOne, the successor to the popular RealPlayer and RealJukebox, will be released in its final version this week and will be bundled with motherboards that Intel sells for use in so-called white box, or generic, PCs, the companies said.

Details are limited, but it raises a lot of questions regarding utility... while this does seem like a boost for Real technology... in the end, won't software updates/advances make the hardware obsolete? And, with faster and faster processors, do they need to offload such things to specialized hardware?