12-12-2010, 05:40 PM
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Thoughts Media Review Team
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 599
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I'm not so sure that we'll see the end of Windows Media Center or the end of Windows Media Player in Windows 8. At least, not without some significant work being put into the Zune software, and I'm not sure that MS will go that way.
For example, only WMP is capable of acting as a DNLA receiver in Win7. Personally, I'd like to see it become more embedded, perhaps into WMC.
Also, Zune can only sync to Zune or WP7 devices. If you kill off WMP, you've lost what some might see as the preferred method of synchronising content to devices such as SanDisk's Clip+.
I think that in a world where you have Apple TV and Google TV now, Microsoft won't drop WMC. They might replace it with something else, but I think it is more likely that we'll just see it continuing to be developed. Unfortunately, now that it is considered to be part of the OS rather than an add-on feature, it means that the development will follow OS cycles and therefore we won't see frequent improvements. That is a shame in a world where I think MS need to be more proactive in developments around the TV.
I agree with the idea that we could have a much lighter-weight OS running a version of WMC. There isn't really a replacement for the extender concept. I'd love to see something with the price and form factor of Apple TV that is capable of running "WMC OS" and is perhaps less configurable than a PC running Windows with Windows Media Center.
One of the things my wife often says against WMC is that it is too techie. I reply that she often says that when I'm sitting in front of the TV with file windows open, running tools to adjust the metadata for my library of TV programmes. I think there possibly needs to be a point where you can start off with an appliance that only runs WMC and can't be radically enhanced, and then grow it up to the full-blown Windows with WMC, depending on your needs.
--Philip
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