First 'Fiji' Media Center systems start rolling out
As Microsoft watchers may recall, Microsoft's gag order on "Fiji" (Windows Media Center TV Pack) was slated to officially end this week, concurrent with the CEDIA Expo show.
Announcements regarding the first PCs preloaded with Fiji are expected from:
Fluid Digital
Microsoft released Fiji to manufacturing in July. In August, Microsoft confirmed rumors that it would make Fiji available only preloaded on brand-new Visat Media Center PCs, enraging many testers and Vista Ultimate users who had assumed they'd be able to add TV Pack to their existing Vista machines.
Many Media Center customers and testers also were none too happy that the expected DirecTV support didn't make it into the final Fiji release.
Meanwhile, speaking of Microsoft Media Center, there is some interesting food for thought on the WindowsConnected blog regarding how Microsoft might go about creating a universal media experience across all of its platforms.
Stated as a plea to J Allard, Microsoft's recently crowned Chief Experience Officer, the post by WindowsConnected's Matt Freestone lays out a proposal for a way Microsoft could "end Sony's reign of terror in the living room." From Freestone's post:
"A single universal interface for media/entertainment across all Microsoft platforms including a single universal codec. It's THAT simple. Right now, Windows Media player can play pretty much ANY media type out there if you install the right codecs. But, then I go into Media Center and suddenly I can't play half of my media, including inside media center on my Xbox 360. But, then I can leave media center and play media on my Xbox 360 that I couldn't play in media center. So, I want to transfer some media to my Zune. Uh oh, same problem again! Most of it I can't transfer. Even Microsoft formats are a pain. Why? I want to copy a TV show from my media center to my Zune. Cool! It says it will let me. Oh wait, why am I having to wait 4 hours for that HD show to transfer to my Zune? Well, I'm at my house, my Zune is wireless, so why can't I just setup my Zune as an extender? Or possibly even my Windows Mobile device that has wifi?"
Do you think Microsoft could and should try to create a universal media interface in the way Freestone describes? Why/why not?