Microsoft's Media Center Blitz
In a keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates detailed Media Center's advancements and starring role in the next Windows operating system and Live services platform. The Windows Media Center Edition will go away as a SKU, sources said.
Partners say marketing Media Center as an integral part of the core OS will drive more demand than pitching it as a specialized Windows offering, as it is today.
And including Media Center and Tablet PC bits in all Vista versions means customers can unlock any feature at will and partners won't have to support multiple Windows images, sources said.
Media Center will ship as part of Vista Home Premium Edition and Vista Ultimate, two of seven Vista versions planned in late 2006, sources said. Gates and company showed off a "newly revised user interface of the Vista Media Center Edition" and demonstrated how users can leverage Vista's search and querying features and new Windows Media Player 11 to access, sort through and stack digital music, photo and video libraries and harness Windows Live services to stream live digital content into their homes.
And as Apple and Google prepare to debut on-demand video services over the Internet, Microsoft announced at the show that Windows Media Center in Vista would offer native support of digital and high-definition cable TV.
"This is the year Vista and Office 12 will come out, and the realization of Windows Media Center as a volume mainstream product will be clear to everyone in the marketplace," Gates said.
He noted that the number of users of Windows XP Media Center Edition climbed to 6.5 million from 1.5 million since last year.
Partners complained the company did not do enough demand generation for Windows XP Media Center Edition, instead leaving marketing up to its OEM partners, and that stalled sales for both system builders and their VARs. "This is a huge benefit for resellers," said Marc Harrison, president of Silicon East, Manalapan, N.J.
"Having all the bits on your hard drive makes upselling a pleasure for us as a Microsoft OEM System Builder."
Analysts agree integration with the Vista OS is better than having a special Windows offering separate from Microsoft's core business and consumer Windows platforms.
"Microsoft is long overdue in creating a consumer operating system that includes core features for media, entertainment, and family security, and Vista will include much of this ability," said Ted Schadler, vice president of Consumer Technology at Forrester Research.