Tuesday, December 02, 2003
If you are wondering what Exchange 2003 looks like and want a sandbox to play in for a while or want to see what the SharePoint Services add-on for Windows Server 2003 does, check out these sites. Microsoft is setting up free 30-day trials of these two applications to give people a chance to take them for a test drive. Pretty neat.
Exchange 2003 Trial
Windows SharePoint Services Trial
I just finished getting the Tivo Home Media Option configured and working on my Series2 Tivo yesterday. If you aren't familiar with this, it allows you to view photos and play music from your networked home PCs right on your Tivo. It also allows shared viewing of saved shows between Tivo machines and remote scheduling of your programs over the web.
So why wouldn't I just run right out and buy a Windows XP Media Center Edition PC? Well, I think they have their place - but not in my home theatre rack.
First, there's the price. Granted, you can get a good MCE XP machine for around $1000 these days if you shop it around. But that's still far more than the $300 I have invested in my Tivo with the Home Media Option at this point. And call me old fashioned - but PCs are meant for desks (or laps), which specialized devices like the Tivo and ReplayTV are built for the living room. Sure, the MCE XP machines provide a GREAT armchair experience via the remote control - but they're still a PC. A PC that has to be managed responsibly like any other PC you would put in your house - install anti-virus software, update with the latest patches and OS service packs, etc. Try doing that with a remote. The Tivo experience was seamless - since it's a specialized appliance, it's programmed to do this housekeeping on its own. Now, I may have to eat these word I type in 6 months when SoBig.F.Tivo is released.
Don't get me wrong, I hope Microsoft's OEM partners sell a ton of these MCE machines - I just hope they market it to what I believe to be the target scenarios - (1) Dorm rooms at universities where the user needs both a PC and a TV and has limited space, (2) in the den where you want to be able to enjoy great TV functionality on the same PC that you do your taxes on and surf the web and (3) in the home theatre racks of technology junkies and home audio/video addicts. It makes a hell of a conversation piece for geeks, that's for sure.
I don't think I'm way off here - most of the technology press agrees. Think of it this way - you're refrigerator does a really good job of keeping things cold. Now, combine an oven and dishwasher in the same device and you have detergent in your left overs and every time you cook a Tombstone pizza, your ice cream melts. It's just too complicated but for the bravest souls.
So, I will use my Tivo to listen to Christmas music from my MP3 collection as we decorate the tree and open presents on Christmas and I will browse through old photos while I'm up feeding our newborn in the middle of the night. And when I have a moment, I'll surf the web and play some Halo on my PC where it was meant to be played. Go ahead, call me old fashioned.