Charlie Owen, who previously worked on the Microsoft Windows Media Center team, has been sharing his MC thoughts over the past week or so and it’s definitely been interesting. His latest post asks the following question:
I believe ackaging Media Center with the Windows operating system definitely was not the correct decision. I understand the reasons MS did it and I agree it might have helped in making some more aware of Media Center, but locking in the development of a true HTPC product cripples that software due to the extremely long, drawn out product update cycles. To stay relevant in the Media Home space, you have to keep up with the frequent changes in the environment. And tying any updates to the OS has MS falling behind other alternatives far too fast. If Microsoft is happy keeping Media Center as a “add-on” to Windows like Windows Media Player, then fine. But I do not agree that it is in the product’s (MC – not the OS) best interest and I think it was done to the detriment of the larger group of Media Center users – who even after pushing MediaCenter into the OS for these several years, still are made up of enthusiasts – not the “regular Joe’s.â€
