Gunning to make its signature software program into a major digital home entertainment hub, Microsoft launched Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 October 12, "the heart of [our] vision to offer people around the world the best in complete, connected entertainment experiences," as chairman Bill Gates put it at the announcement.
Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and Toshiba announced concurrently that they were launching computers equipped with XP Media Center 2005, at prices between $1,000-2,000. And Microsoft is all but hoping that this just might begin the computer's future as an ultimate enhancement or even substitute, if not outright replacement, for the television set.
The new version is said to give you remote control compatibility, instant messages, digital pictures, movies, music, and high-definition television, and even lets you record and pause television programs a la TiVo.
Microsoft is training its biggest marketing guns on behalf of Media Center 2005, with Gates promising a $100 million marketing campaign.
Microsoft's announcement and launch had been expected. The New York Times said the day before the announcement that previous XP Media Center editions had gained slow market acceptance but Microsoft hoped to reverse that with the new version. The Times reported also that several manufacturers plan to introduce their versions of Microsoft's Media Center Extender, announced in January, which "allows a television signal to be sent from a Media Center computer to a television in another room, by way of a wireless network."
Other reports leading up to the announcement expected Media Center 2005 to balance, as one put it, "Hollywood's privacy fears with the appeal of digital media."
