![]() This means that some entrepreneurial electronics manufacturer can grab off the shelf parts, add in a little of Redmond's software and deliver a dependable DVR to mainstream America - in theory. What's new is that Microsoft ported its Media Center software to the latest embedded version of Windows and is giving hardware partners the chance to build a DVR without spending all the big bucks on developing software. Microsoft has been making embedded software for a long time, and odds are you've used it at an ATM or stood right in front of someone who used a Windows embedded machine to ring you up at a department store. It's a match between hardware and software that is designed to do a few specific things and do them very well. The one thing that every single mainstream DVR and smartphone have in common is that they are all embedded. Why an embedded Media Center just makes sense This all makes it easy to understand why Microsoft has re-purposed its software and lined up new partners for an embedded version of Windows 7 Media Center. Even some top brass at Microsoft use a TiVo as a DVR instead of a HTPC because they just work. Consumer electronics have to be like an appliance, they just need to work. No, the problem is there's no mainstream market for an HTPC, so realistically-speaking, another few billion dumped into marketing wouldn't have changed a thing (c.f. Seriously? A company as successful as Microsoft knows a thing or two more than most about marking a product. Right about now, there are some people screaming at their computer, complaining that Microsoft never marketed Media Center. We'd bet that if stock holders had any idea how much money was spent compared to the return, someone would surely get fired. Microsoft has tried as hard as anyone to make this geek dream come true, with multiple versions of Media Center and money dumped into R&D trying to entice programming providers in the US and the rest of the world to bring their programming to Windows. ![]() Nope, no matter how hard PC manufactures and Microsoft try, HTPCs simply will never go mainstream. There are just too many things that can go wrong, and with the exception of some very high-end models, commercial HTPCs are non-existent. The problem is that while a computer geek can make an HTPC do just about anything, a typical user has a hard enough time using a PC to surf the web. But all that being said, we wouldn't offer to set one up for a friend, and we wouldn't give our mother one, ever. In fact, we use an HTPC now and have enjoyed its benefits for what feels like forever. We've had a fascination with home theater PCs since the first time we saw video running on a PC - remember Intel MMX? There's something empowering about seeing video run on a PC, and there's been a PC connected to our TV ever since. The demise of HTPCs is not for a lack of effort So after years of trying, it appears that all hopes that HTPCs will ever emerge from their niche status are gone, but the same can not be said for Windows Media Center. There was a buzz around Media Center embedded and even a price and ship date meanwhile, home theater PCs got no love. But then something happened when the show floor opened: Windows embedded products were highlighted in private meetings and elsewhere. After watching the Ballmer keynote at CES last week, it was hard not to get on this train as we all watched the 360, Windows Phone 7, and Windows highlighted on stage. The theory is that Microsoft is throwing in the towel, focusing on the Xbox 360 and intends to let the best DVR software available become stale - or worse, eliminate it from future versions of Windows altogether. ![]() There has been a lot of discussion in the Windows Media Center community about the product's death.
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