By popular demand, the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SDK is now available for online browsing and download at MSDN. Over the past few weeks, I've started to realize what a fundamental groundswell this SDK represents.  For the past two decades or so , we've looked at PCs as being fundamentally driven by keyboard and mouse (aka 2' experience).  MCE05 in particular represents a fundamental shift in the Windows application platform, offering a choice of 2' (keyboard and mouse) or 10' (remote control) control of an application or service.   If you're unsure of the future of the platform, just look at some of the names delivering applications for MCE - AOL, MSN Music, MSN TV, Napster, Newsgator, Reuters, NPR, Kodak/Ofoto, ESPN, ABC, Live365, Napster, Sonic, and more.  This could very well be the year of MCE as an application platform.  Some of the biggest names in entertainment and personal media are already behind it with more to be announced soon.

In fact, last year, the Emmy Award for Interactive Television was awarded to ABC's “Celebrity Mole“ Enhanced TV program available on MCE PCs. 

This is a key difference in my opinion between MCE and other PVR platforms. It's the Windows platform that is part of MCE's strength- anyone can build an app on top of it so a wide range of applications and services can be made available.  It's also a bonus that you don't have a $140+/year subscription fee for an Electronic Programming Guide with MCE or just plug in a new hard drive (internal or external) to add hard drive space. Look at the cost over a 4-5 year period and a MCE PC makes sense to me and it can also double as a full-fledged PC for browsing and more. 

Oh and did I mention the 10' Sync feature that works with over 75 portable music and media players? After this last trip, you can pry my MCE PC and Portable Media Center from my cold dead hands.  My wife actually wants a MCE PC for herself. What's next, my 14 month old son? (He loves Boobah and Teletubbies on airplanes)

Got any cool Media Center apps or services in the works?  Let me know.  I'm always up for a good beta test.  Have an idea for an app, feel free to share it with others here.