I’ve already picked apart all the problems surrounding TV Pack 2008, CableCARD DRM, and all the things wrong in the world with Windows Media Center today. And, I could spend a good 15 minutes linking back to all the posts, and all the amens from all the Media Center MVPs and Experts on my blog.
But, I don’t want to do that today… it’s beating a dead horse. I would however like to point out when others do the same thing. Mike Wren has done that quite eloquently on his own blog. And, he echos what many are saying, and what I may be resigned to accept… that Microsoft is going to force people (many of whom have paid thousands of dollars for their CableCARD rigs) to pony up for Windows 7 to fix those bugs.
That is going to fail Microsoft, I’m warning you now so that I can say that I did later. These people are the ones you don’t want to tick off, because they will wind up telling everyone to go to what TiVo is brewing, just as soon as it comes out of the gates. And, they will too… leaving Windows 7 Media Center devoid of both advocates… and savvy users.
They remember when they were supposed to get bug fixes, and they know who exactly to cast blame on.
They know what to reccomend to the hundreds of friends, family, and co-workers.
And, their opinion spreads like a virus to the rest of the non-tech community.
Microsoft, you still have time to fix this. There is still time to roll TV Pack 2008 into Vista Service Pack 2, and fix it. Please, take advantage of the Vista Service Pack 2 delay, and save Media Center’s face… Microsoft will be shooting themselves in the foot otherwise.
I’m going to say that I’ve seen nothing about Vista that makes me want to use it on my HTPC. I’ve got XP on there, things are fine, I’m not changing things just to risk the problems. Even though Microsoft gave me a new, shrink-wrapped copy of Vista … I’m still not doing it.