It seems as though the Windows Media Center community has been arguing/doubting whether their favorite DVR solution would be included with Windows 8 from the moment that Windows 7 launched. Personally, I’ve been saying for the entire time that I didn’t believe the hype and fear that Microsoft would remove it. Certainly there have been some signs along the way that gave people reason to believe that we might have to do without Media Center in Widows 8, but all of those fears can now be put to rest. Yesterday, Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft’s President of the Windows Division, announced in his Building Windows 8 blog “that Media Center will definitely be part of Windows 8. No doubt about it.”
One of the other main tidbits that Sinofsky shared was some very interesting usage data for Windows 7 Media Center. He shared a lot of numbers, but after crunching them, it would appear that of the 400 million copies of Windows 7 that have been sold, about 6 million users opened Windows Media Center in the month of July and used it for more than 10 minutes. Before anyone assumes that there are even fewer people in that 6 million number using Media Center for watching/recording television, Sinofsky also stated “TV was the most common scenario we observed.” It should also be noted that these stats were provided by looking at opt-in usage data. So it doesn’t count anyone who didn’t allow Microsoft to track their Media Center usage.
How does six million users compare to the competition? If Tivo is the main competitor then Microsoft is knocking it out of the park! TiVo announced in their Q2 earnings statement (pdf link) that their steady decline in subscribers has dropped to just 1.9 million. So there are more than three times as many people using a Windows 7 PC to watch and record television than there are using TiVo!
For many, simply having the same version of Windows Media Center in Windows 8 that we currently have in Windows 7 won’t be enough. Sinofsky had very little to say with regards to any possible new features or enhancements to the product. Maybe they will announce more details at Build in a couple of weeks.
Sinofsky also briefly discussed the availability of Media Center in terms of what SKUs it would be included with. He didn’t give any specifics though. In Vista, Windows Media Center was only available in the Home Premium and Ultimate SKUs. In Windows 7 it is available in Home Premium, and every SKU above it. Sinofsky also mentioned that many people have said that they would be willing to pay extra for Media Center, so don’t count out the possibility that it might be offered as a separate purchase through their forthcoming app store. Our bet is on them returning to the Vista model where it was only available in the premium consumer offering, and the option that included every available feature.
From here we just have to wait and see what Windows 8 Media Center has in store for all of us, and unfortunately we don’t even know when the first pre-release builds will include it. You can be sure that the Digital Media Zone will be ready to inform you as soon as we know anything.
Source: Reflecting on Our First Conversations Part 2
Unlike others I think they ARE making some changes to it and that is why it is not in the early builds. I think if all they did to Media Center is add Xbox Live Marketplace/Music/Video integration I would be a happy camper.
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