Windows Media Center continues overseas march
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After launching the operating system in the United States and Korea,Microsoft has slowly been introducing it in morecountries. The company is set to announce Monday that theoperating system will reach Australia, Austria, Italy, theNetherlands and Switzerland by the end of the year.
The geographic expansion comes as the company is alsotrying to get computer makers to improve the qualityof machines based on Windows XP Media Center Edition.Several sessions at last week's
Audiovisual quality has been a particular stickingpoint, Microsoft executives said at the conference,pointing out that people expect the sound and pictureon a $1,500 media-oriented PC to be at least as goodas those from a $99 DVD player. In many cases, though,that hasn't been the case with the first crop of MediaCenter PCs, they said.
In a presentation Thursday, Windows eHome directorKeith Laepple said that display makers, graphics chipmakers, tuner makers and PC makers all had work to doto improve the quality of the Media Center PCs thathit store shelves.
"Every company in the food chain...has a role to play,"he said.
Microsoft also has work to do, Laepple said. Thecompany is in the testing stage on a
Among the new features in the release that comes outlater this year will be support for a new kind ofset-top box, dubbed Media Center Extenders, thatallows content stored on a Media Center in one room tobe played on a TV in another room. This is importantsince still only about a third of Media Center PCs arebeing placed in the living room--the main placewhere TV watching goes on.
Getting the kinks ironed out is critical for Microsoftas the company tries to move Media Center from a niche playerto more of a mainstream product.
Some have suggested that the Media Center software isshaping up to be Microsoft's standard operating systemfor consumers.
Although Microsoft executives have been hesitant tosay as much, they did include this sentiment in the pressrelease for the geographic expansion, quoting JupiterResearch analyst Avi Greengart as saying "Windows XPMedia Center PCs will become the standard OS formidlevel PCs and various desktop replacement notebooksover the next 12 to 18 months."
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