Since we released the February/Enterprise CTP, build 5308 of Windows Vista, I have spent a few minutes each day reading through our beta newsgroups, microsoft.beta.longhorn.mce.*. Unfortunately I see a lot of posts about black screens, blue screens, glitching, freezes, etc. And that’s if the user was able to get the build with drivers installed!

I wish you were all having a better experience. Understand that we feel your pain. For instance, I’m running 5308 here at the office on a slightly older Dell machine and see the same issues you see. At home, I’ve been installing weekly builds since December. So every week, at least once, I go through the pains of trying to install Windows Vista, configuring it and MCE for my tastes, and then using it. The good news is that 5308 is a snapshot of where we were at a certain point in the development cycle and that quality improves every week. I haven’t yet switched over to using my Windows Vista machine 100% at home but expect to do so any week now. Expect our next pre-release to be higher quailty than what you’re struggling with today.

So hang in there. Your feedback is valuable!

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Extreme Tech, Why Windows Vista Won’t Suck

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Press release, Microsoft Unveils Windows Vista Product Lineup.

What this means is that Media Center will no longer be a standalone SKU, instead it will be available on both the Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate SKUs. This is great because:

• You can now upgrade your existing PC so that it has MCE capabilities!
• 32 and 64 bit versions will now be available (I’m running 64bit at home)
• MCE and tablet, the two ‘out of band’ SKUs, are together at last
• You can now use MCE in a domain joined environment
• No more ’sonic encoders’, the burn engine is built in
• MCE will now have incredible reach

Fall 2006 is going to be when MCE crosses over into the mainstream.

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