Joe Wilcox over at the Microsoft Monitor Weblog has a lot of good things to say about his experience with Media Center 2005 and a few about his frustrations at retail. Truth be told, we are working with retailers actively to improve the Media Center pre-purchase experience which you'll be hearing more about shortly here.  Unfortunately it takes time to get the teams trained and the products in-channel. But we need your help- Media Center owners regularly do check-ups at the stores and talk to the managers if the demo stations aren't set up correctly.  In fact, most of our team does and I actually do spot-checks when traveling across the country or the globe, generating trip reports that go back to our retail engagement team. 

Joe notes, “If not marketing, how about a little evangelism from Microsoft? Just through blogging, Microsoft created way too much buzz about next-generation-Windows Longhorn. How about blogging evangelism about Media Center, a product Microsoft sells today--not two years from now? My blog is a start.”

You're absolutely right Joe and I'm so happy to see you blogging on the topic. I guess you hadn't heard of my blog yet <g> but I'm not surprised as my ebb and tide has been a bit off. But,  I'm back and blogging on Media Center.  Lots more to talk about - including even more new stuff we're working on.  Stay tuned...