Errrrr Hello? Microsoft....

[milli260876]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/06/tim- ... se-intere/

Given that Microsoft just dropped everything to chase google/apple in the phone/tablet market.
I thought it only fair that I point out to them google/apple's forays into TV....
Maybe they should recognise they already have a great remote friendly product that just needs a bit of love, before they have to start from scratch and start the chase again.
Action is better than Reaction.

Microsoft I give you

WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER

[STC]

Media what-now?

[trooper11]

The problem is even if they stick with Media Center, its too late to simply 'stick with it' and stay up to speed with media requirements. If MS wanted to stay ahead, I would expect them to craft a new media center service from the ground up. We all know that developing add-ons for WMC is a pain and the only real fix to that is to build it from scratch in a way that is much easier to build on. WMC is just too limited in its current form.

Having said that, it seems clear that MS is not interested in crafting a single piece of software that is suppose to manage all of your media needs. The rumors around a supposed Xbox TV settop box all point to using a form of Windows 8 (my guess is that its Windows RT actually). MS will leverage the metro ui for a 10ft experience and hopefully that means we get access to the same windows store to get all the 3rd party media apps we like. Seeing as how Plex just released its Windows 8 app, I look forward to trying it out as a possible HTPC option in place of 7MC.

[STC]

I suspect, if MS does create a new experience it will be a 'tile-style' with support for tuners...hopefully....

[holidayboy]

I guess an Xbox based 'STB' device could benefit from Media Center not being included in W8 Embedded, any planned 3rd party boxes (where's my Q?) would be less likely to appear.

Me? Cynical?

Yup!

[barnabas1969]

I guess an Xbox based 'STB' device could benefit from Media Center not being included in W8 Embedded, any planned 3rd party boxes (where's my Q?) would be less likely to appear.

Me? Cynical?

Yup!

You're not cynical... just realistic. Microsoft has a long reputation for being anti-competition.

[foxwood]

I think you'll find that Microsoft cares an awful lot more about Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and Time Warner and their hundreds of millions of set top boxes than it does about a company that would measure it's success in tens of thousands, rather than tens of millions. The ramifications of going head to head with the cable companies, versus finding a way to cooperate with or co-opt them, make any consideration of the impact on Ceton utterly irrelevant. Mice don't provide competition to elephants, and a $900 Q won't compete with a $150 "XBox-TV".

[holidayboy]

I guess that I'm lucky. The mice aren't much smaller than elephants over here in the free world (no DRM!).

Gimme a Q already

I just want a few tuners in a neat (silent is (not if!) possible) box that will let me watch it's stuff on any TV in my house.

Give me an xbox something that'll do that and I'm in.