Next week Microsoft are set to lift the lid on the next version of Windows (which could be called Windows 9) and I have many people ask me if Windows Media Center will be a part of the OS. It is something we discussed on the podcast this week and I am interested to see what the general feeling is about the future for Media Center.

First off I am pretty sure we will not see Window Media Center in the preview release next week, the release will focus is on enterprise/desktop features but what about the general consume release? One of the reasons Microsoft gave for charging extra for Media Center in Windows 8 was due to the cost of decoder licensing and the low usage stats:

Given the changing landscape, the cost of decoder licensing, and the importance of a straight forward edition plan, we’ve decided to make Windows Media Center available to Windows 8 customers via the Add Features to Windows 8 control panel (formerly known as Windows Anytime Upgrade). This ensures that customers who are interested in Media Center have a convenient way to get it.

Since Windows 8 was released I expect usage of Windows Media Center has decreased, many users have switched over to alternative solutions (not all an improvement over Media Center), Microsoft are focused on the Xbox brand for its media services and have done nothing to promote or improve Media Center.

Technically there is nothing wrong with the current version of Media Center and including it in Windows 9 wouldn’t be a great technical issue, the core technology of Windows is not changing and application should run fine. The question is whether Microsoft really want to keep the product around. There is no longer an eHome team (the development team behind Media Center) so it’s extremely unlikely there will ever be any new features. Another point is that Microsoft would have to keep the EPG guide data available if Media Center is a paid addon to the OS, if you paid for it in Windows 9 you would at least expect EPG data for a couple of years and that is a cost to Microsoft. Sadly Windows Media Center is now a legacy app and I think it is unlikely that will we see it in Windows 9 but you never know.

Do you think Windows Media Center will be a cost option again as it was with Windows 8 or do you think it’s the end of the road for Media Center?

3 thoughts on “Will Windows Media Center be in the next version of Windows?”
  1. Sadly, I think it is the end of the road for Media Center. I can only hope that they will sell the source code or make it open source.

  2. I hope Microsoft releases the Xbox OneGuide for Windows 9 with Live TV Tuner Support and updates the Video App to support more container/formats with FULL network support.

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