Microsoft discontinues Windows Media Center

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

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.

Tags: Microsoft Windows Media Center Windows 8 Windows 10

<Microsoft says 3.7 million users have signed up to test Windows 10 >Windows Phone fans rejoice: Two high-end devices are coming this year

1 user comment

14.5.2015 00:45

audvare

Send private message to this user

Newbie

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.

	Sony suspends memory card sales because memory chips are simply not available (28 Mar 2026 6:49) Sony has announced that it is temporarily suspending the sale of memory cards used in mobile phones and digital cameras, among other things. The company states that the reason is problems with the availability of memory chips.
	Austria plans to ban social media for under 14 year olds (28 Mar 2026 6:17) Austria is planning to ban social media for children under 14. The reform aims to protect children from harmful effects and addictions, but at the same time, it is problematic from a privacy perspective.
	TP-Link urges users to update their routers - several vulnerabilities patched (26 Mar 2026 1:56) Serious security vulnerabilities have been discovered in several TP-Link router models, for which patches were released at the end of March 2026. The company urges users to update their router software immediately.
	Google: The feared Q-Day is now expected to happen in 2029 (25 Mar 2026 4:32) Google has advanced its estimate of when current forms of encryption will become insecure. The moment is called Q-Day, or Quantum Day, when the computational power of quantum computers will be sufficient to break currently used encryptions.
	OpenAI shuts down its AI video service Sora (24 Mar 2026 6:28) OpenAI has decided to shut down Sora, its AI video creator, just months after its release. The decision is due to issues such as copyright problems and the deepfake phenomenon.

Microsoft discontinues Windows Media Center

1 user comment

Latest news

Reviews

News archive

Subscribe

Sections:

Follow us:

	Review: Roborock Saros Z70 - robot vacuum with an arm In out in-depth review of Roborock Saros Z70 we put the robot vacuum through a 3 month test period, where we observed its work in normal home. The sci-fi -like arm of Z70 was a little bit disappointing, due its limited functionality.
	Roborock Saros 10 review - Great, but not perfect We tested Roborock Saros 10 robot vacuum for more than two months in order to see whether it is really worth its hefty price tag. The mopping, self-emptying Saros 10 was mostly great, even perfect. But its object avoidance was bit disappointing. 1 user comment
	Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra review - obstacle avoidance doesn't work as it should, otherwise almost perfect robot vacuum We put the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra through a very, very long review process. The $1800 mopping robot vacuum is almost perfect, but its obstacle avoidance was surprisingly bad, considering the price - and compared to its competitors.