Michael Earls, author of An Introduction to Developing Software for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and Building .NET Add-Ins for Windows Media Center Edition has apparently given up on Media Center according to his post this morning.

But I don't think he has really convinced himself to do so, based on some of the kudos he gives in the rant...

"...the PC next to my television is exactly what I dreamed it would be - a way to record multiple television shows and maintain them for me, a way to listen to music, and a killer arcade machine..."

"The Media Center has worked great for recording television..."

...and the fact the root cause of his issues have nothing to do with Media Center itself...

"...all of the various drivers and software DVD decoders have caused me great pain..."

"...the problems I'm having with my machine have to do with the video and audio drivers..."

And I can't really believe as a developer he wants us to create yet another developer limiting (or downright unfriendly) set top box -- that would pretty much end his ability to extend Media Center (like his Yahoo example).

Michael, I'm happy to help you get the decoder and driver issues resolved...