AfterDawn: Tech news

Microsoft discontinues Windows Media Center

Written by Matti Robinson @ 03 May 2015 9:11 User comments (1)

Microsoft discontinues Windows Media Center

Microsoft has been unveiling more about its upcoming operating system this past week at Build conference in San Francisco. The company also told to ZDNet that it will be killing off the Windows Media Center.
Windows Media Center was released in 2001 as a full screen media experience for Windows XP. The development halted already in 2009 but the software has been included to this day in Windows 8. Now it seems however that the interface will not be seen on Windows 10.

The software was meant for media consumption of music, video, photos, and TV. It was designed to be intuitive with a remove controller, often provided with the Windows Media Center PCs. Even if the software will not make a return in Windows 10 the functionality largely will surely be in place – if not by Microsoft, by 3rd party developers.

Previous Next  

1 user comment

14.5.2015 00:45

This could have been a cool product, widely used by novices and advanced users, but XBMC/Kodi, MythTV and others outdid it easily by supporting all the formats, whereas Microsoft only wanted to support theirs and very few others. Have to remember it was not until Vista that Windows came with a DVD decoder.

3rd party software also is just as intuitive to use as this, if not more.

Xbox 360's interface is sort of a revamping of this, but the only reason people use it there is because they have no choice. Microsoft gave explicit permission to Netflix and others to exist there (they did not have to but they knew they would lose a lot of customers on this). In the end, Microsoft never turned MSN Music (among other services offered) into something comparable to iTunes or Netflix. Both users and the industry failed to embrace VC-1 like Microsoft wanted. There are so many factors, so it comes as no surprise that WMC is killed.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments
How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller (11 Feb 2023 1:04)
Google shut down its streaming game service Stadia late last month and this means that some people have Stadia controllers lying around that seem to be of no use. That is fortunately not the ....
2 user comments
Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account (26 Jan 2023 2:14)
Sharing a Netflix account with a person in a different location is possible and indeed very common, although the company doesn't necessarily enjoy this behavior from their customers. However, ....

News archive