Not that I encourage hacking MCE 2005 to apply themes, but our new theme can’t be that disliked if people are creating themes for MCE 2005 to make it look like our Windows Vista version :) (via ChrisL).

Comments(4)

Paul Thurott is out with his latest Windows Vista review and spends a good portion of the article talking about Media Center. From, Windows Vista February 2006 CTP (Build 5308/5342) Review, Part 5: Where Vista Fails:

In Windows Vista, Microsoft has irrevocably broken Media Center. It’s a horrid update to a wonderful bit of software, an ugly stepchild of beautiful parents. It’s so bad, I don’t even know where to start.

Now where do I start with my rebuttal? :)

First, the color scheme, it’s not final. Don’t get too hung up on look and feel and fit and finish in the early CTP builds.

Second, the new start menu navigation model. We debate a lot internally about what’s changing and whether the changes are for the better or for the worse; this new start menu rarely comes under fire. Why? Because this new start menu enables users to get to areas of the product much faster than the old model of having a home page and then home pages for each experience. I won’t spend the time walking through this now, but will in a later post.

Third, the horizontal galleries. This topic too warrants its own blog post. In short, we’re making a big bet on users having 16×9 displays. As such we’ve designed an interface, that is in our opinion, optimized for wide screen resolutions. Personally, I’m undecided about whether I like the change or not. Originally I was adamantly opposed to it, but it’s growing on me :).

Fourth, remote controls. Yes, we have new remote controls coming. If you were at CES 2006 they were in use at our booths.

Fifth, changing the interface. Yes, we’re changing the interface, and existing users will have to spend some time getting aquainted with the new interface. But given our new distribution strategy of bundling Media Center with Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate, Media Center will go out to orders of magnitude more users; new users. Users who have never used Media Center before. Users who likely aren’t going to care that we’ve changed the interface.

Sixth, WMP. I’m glad to hear Paul likes the changes to WMP. I also like the changes and think it’s a big improvement from WMP 10. But, I think WMP still has a lot of room to grow in terms of a simple user experience. And I totally agree with Paul that we need to work harder at providing thoughtful transitions between 2′ applications like WMP, PIX, the Windows Shell, and their 10′ equivalents in Media Center.

What are your thoughts on the changes? Have you installed build 5342? What do you think?

Comments(22)