HP MCE RIP: Countdown to a Zune Media Center?
March 28, 2007Via Slashdot:
The first big adapter of Microsoft’s Media Center Edition is quietly dropping MCE. HP is ceasing production of its Digital Entertainment Center, the only real success story for Media Center PCs in a living-room form factor. As the first company to embrace Microsoft’s MCE, at a time when the platform was still half-baked, HP was simply spent by the time Vista rolled around. Now the company will put its resources into MediaSmart, a new line of TVs with a digital media adapter (not an MCE) built in. HP insists that its departure is not a statement about the viability of the Media Center platform.
Based on history (i.e. MP3 player market), expect a Microsoft/Zune branded MCE (XBOX 360 TV ambitions notwithstanding) followed by the inevitable media blitz explaining why the Zune MCE was needed: because Microsoft partners sucked.
[...] Rossj wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHP is ceasing production of its Digital Entertainment Center, the only real success story for Media Center PCs in a living-room form factor. As the first company to embrace Microsoft’s MCE, at a time when the platform was still … [...]