With the release of Microsoft Windows Vista, most new computer purchasers will get a copy of MCE (straight from the front page of Avsforum). This sounds an awful lot like the past several technologies to undergo a hostile takeover by Microsoft.

1. Media playback (windows 3.1 era) - bundle Media Player (no major complaints here, though)
2. Web browser - bundle IE (kill Netscape)
3. Instant messaging - bundle MSN Messenger (seriously harm AIM/Yahoo/ICQ/etc)

Isn't it about time that somebody stands up again and does something? While half the world is praising this kind of thing, the other half should be trying to raise attention about (and improve the quality of) the alternatives. It seems to me that anyone who makes a competing product should get the antitrust ball rolling again - Sage, MythTV, etc. Windows, Mac, and Linux products should all band together and complain about this kind of behavior that we've seen again and again.

While in theory I agree that it is a monopolistic tactic on Microsoft's part, much like Windows 3.1, Messenger, IE, etc. That being said, I don't think it's bad thing for the average consumer.

It was Win 3.1 that brought on the explosive growth in home PCs. Anyone remember the days of the various versions of DOS, and of having to have a printer driver for each piece of software you ran? IE became the defacto standard for designing web pages, and now you hardly ever run into a problem where someone has made an "non-standard" web page that won't load properly. There were a zillon IM clients out there, now there are basically 2 main options, making IM chat much easier for the average user. I'm not saying that Microsoft's products are the best (far from it), but what MS did do is create a defacto standard in what was previously an unstandardized segment of the market, which allowed for much faster and widespread adoption.

IMO having widespread adoption of Windows Vista "Media Centers" will only help everyone interested in HTPC's by having more companies bring more media center hardware to market. If more companies realize there is a market for hardware because there are all these Vista media centers out there, it will only increase the hardware options available for everyone, no matter what OS/software you are using.

I think that widespread HTPC adoption is the key to having more hardware/software options. For that to occur, there has to be one dominant platform on which to build a market for hardware, accessories,etc. It may not be right, but that's the way it is. Microsoft "flooding" the market with Vista media center capable PCs can only help the HTPC market as a whole.

Personally I hope that just about every Vista computer built and sold is a "media center" version. If more PCs find there way from the home office to the living room because of Vista, I'm all for it. That means there will be a bigger market for HTPC hardware, and there will be more hardware options coming, whether you choose to run Vista, Linux/MythTV or anything else for that matter.