Heh, I agree, They are rehashing stuff that Microsoft has been doing for years. I sincerely hope with the Vista launch that we get some good marketing behind the cohesive ehome product set that we have that Apple and ol' Steve can't touch.

Or maybe they could spend years cultivating an image of style and ease of use, hire a CEO with some actual charisma, and make products that actually do what they claim without all sorts of bloat and useless features.

Again, Charlie - you're wrong (and you don't even know why). :) Microsoft sells to OEMs / partners, whereas Apple sells to users / customers. Microsoft provides the platform and outsources implementation, whereas Apple owns the entire operation. Huge differences - not just in marketing, but in philosophy.

And this is exactly why Apple will continue to school y'all. ;)

I still fail to see the reasoning behind your challenge. Vista's UI has already spoken for itself, and that was my original bone of contention.

This is just layers of fun on this post :)

Apple has not, nor does it look like will soon, school Microsoft on the Tivoish front. Media Center completely schools anything Apple has in the media-to-TV arena, and this from someone that would love to see what Apple could do, just to mix it up.

Chris P., your point has so little to do with the post topic that it's confusing. Perhaps you can show us how your comment relates at all to the point in the post? The entire point being, as I understand it, that Apple is pitching the "View your Media on your TV" angle in which Media Center (and/or the XBox 360) already does an awesome job. Your point of Apple forcing the consumer into having to use their hardware has little (nothing?) to do with the fact that MCE is the best OS-to-TV media solution out there. Yes, even better than MythTV, SageTV, BeyondTV, etc.

I will say that Apple's marketing *should* be hired, they can turn the mundane into the amazing and have a much better way of connecting to the people.

Of course in all of this who in their right mind is going to pay $300 just to watch low-res expensive movies at $15 a pop? Pick up a 360 and you have an extender PLUS so much more. Even with just Media Connect it beats that pants off of this little iTV dongle. Heck, just get NetFlix, it's a lot cheaper and better quality.