No doubt about it… The Robb Report is a magazine for rich men. I say “men” deliberately, because this magazine is aimed at gadget freaks with lots and lots of disposable income, the “boys and their toys” crowd. I was pleasantly surprised to see this review of Windows Media Center Edition 2005 in the (digital) pages of the Robb Report’s Home Entertainment Design:
[T]hanks to Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition computer operating system, PCs have begun invading our home theaters. They assume the roles of DVD player, TV tuner, digital video recorder, music server, digital photo archive, online portal, and so much more—all in one box with a unified control screen.
It’s a well-balanced look at Media Center, with a focus on the high end and a willingness to acknowledge the problems with the platform:
Versatile and promising as Windows Media Center may sound, our initial experience with it raises more red flags than a military parade in Beijing. In its current iteration, WMC is more of a Band-Aid than a fully integrated, well-thought-out system. While Band-Aids work great if you prick your pinky with a paring knife, they don’t work well for severed limbs. And given the wide range of hardware WMC attempts to control, the severed limb analogy seems appropriate. Obviously, I’m overstating a bit—but severed limbs are often reattached in less time than it takes to get many Windows Media Center machines running properly.
I hope the developers in the eHome division at Microsoft have seen this article. If so, they know exactly where the challenges are to win this audience over.
Ed Bott 