Any difference in Media Center between XP and Vista?

Question

I'm currently using Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. Will be receiving Windows Vista in a few weeks. Since Vista also comes with a Media Center, I'd like to know if the Media Center in both OS are similar.

Answer 1

Information on Windows Vista
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/enterprise/default.mspx

Using Outlook on Vista
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/vista.htm

Windows Vista – Specifications – Most Visible Features
Buffalo News, 1/29/07
Vista will add to Windows display deal with viewing photos, playing videos, recording and downloading music, and running the new “memory-gobbling” programs like Office Live. Needs:
800mHz speed, 1gHz better
512mb RAM minimum
20gb to run Vista
60-80gb hard drive




Considering an Upgrade to Windows Vista
Adapted From: Windows Vista For Dummies, Special Preview Edition
You'll see Windows Vista in the headlines quite a bit this year. The buzz starts in the technology section, ambles over to business columns, and eventually turns into news headlines. But amid all the buzz about Vista, there's one nagging question: Do you really need this thing?
Here are a few of the most tempting features Microsoft has worked into Vista, and what you'll find in them.
Improved search
Windows XP really drags its feet when searching for files. Searching for a filename takes several minutes on a crowded hard drive, and if you're searching your files for a particular word or phrase, you're in for a long weekend. Vista, by contrast, spends its idle time fine-tuning an index of every word on your hard drive.
To keep that work handy, Vista places a Search box on the Start menu, atop every folder, and in a few other areas. The handy Search box and the up-to-date index make it faster than ever to find the files and programs you want.
Vista even updates its index with words on Web sites you've visited recently, letting you quickly call up that headline you remember reading last week.
Trying to find the right setting in the Control Panel's vast array of switches and options? As you type words describing that setting into the Control Panel's Search box — display, for example — Vista filters out every item that doesn't pertain to the display. Eventually, you'll only spot a few icons left, and they'll all pertain to your computer's display.
Security
Some may call it a nuisance, others call it User Account Protection, but Microsoft prefers to call it advanced security. Vista's built-in User Account Protection security not only keeps unwanted creatures from crawling into your PC, but it also stops the ones already inside your PC from calling home to their creators through the Internet. Whenever something in your PC tries to do something that could change Vista's settings, Vista asks for your permission.
Although all this security is indeed a bother, it's the only way to keep your PC and your files safe.
Even if you turn off the security features for your own account, leave them turned on for your kids' accounts or the account you create for your babysitter or housesitter. Vista security will keep them from mucking up your PC while you're away.
Windows defender
Just about everybody's heard something about spyware — unwanted software that sneaks onto your PC. It then spies on your Web-browsing habits and sends the results to sneaky companies who fill your PC with ads targeted toward your interests.
When something's wrong with your PC, spyware's the most likely suspect. Spyware-infested PCs experience slowdowns, conflicts with other software, and even crashes. Vista's new Windows Defender seeks out and destroys spyware before it takes hold. Because companies constantly create new breeds of spyware, Microsoft automatically trains Windows Defender with Windows Update to recognize the latest spyware strains and pry them off your PC.
Parental controls
Most parents don't let their children travel unknown neighborhoods without supervision. But what about the PC and its ticket to the Internet's chat rooms and adult Web sites? Vista's strict parental controls let parents control their kids' computer workouts by adding the following controls:
•Blocking specific Web sites and programs or blocking all but a few hand-picked Web sites and programs
•Filtering Web sites by their content
•Blocking file downloads
•Controlling the days or hours the PC is available
•Collecting detailed activity reports showing Web sites blocked/visited, programs run, games played, and instant messaging conversations held
Although Vista calls them Parental Controls, they let any administrator account holder control the activities of any standard account holder. That means you can finally control exactly how your roommates use your PC — if you let them use it at all.
And your boss can see exactly how much time you spend playing solitaire when you should be working. Be forewarned.
DVD burning
Windows XP couldn't write to DVDs without the help of a third-party program. Vista can finally write to blank DVDs by itself, making DVDs an easy way to back up all those digital photos. Combine Vista's DVD Maker program with Vista's improved Movie Maker program, and you'll finally be able to burn your vacation videos to DVD and watch them in the living room.
Vista's built-in Backup program lets you automatically store your backed-up files to CDs or DVDs.
Runs on an average PC
You may have heard how Vista won't run on older PCs, or it needs an expensive video card. But if your PC's running Windows XP, it will probably run Vista just fine.
As for the video card, Vista certainly looks its best when run on a PC with a high-powered video card. But it also looks fine on most PCs today. The differences really aren't that obvious.
In fact, some people will turn off Vista's glass tabletop because all those reflections can be distracting.
News: Revision to Windows Vista retail licensing terms
•Vista: You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use. You may not do so to share this license between devices.
Posted by Nick White on Thursday, November 02, 2006 1:44 PM
118 Comments Tags: Windows Vista, Annnouncement, Licensing, Featured News
I’m very pleased to let you know you this morning (or afternoon, or evening, depending on where you are when you read this) that the Windows division has revised the retail license terms for Windows Vista in a significant way. Namely, the terms regarding license-to-device assignment of the retail product (including Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate) now read as follows:
•You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use. You may not do so to share this license between devices.
You can find the newly-revised retail license terms here, as I’m sure you’ll want to read them for yourself.
Our intention behind the original terms was genuinely geared toward combating piracy; however, it’s become clear to us that those original terms were perceived as adversely affecting an important group of customers: PC and hardware enthusiasts. You who comprise the enthusiast market are vital to us for several reasons, not least of all because of the support you’ve provided us throughout the development of Windows Vista. We respect the time and expense you go to in customizing, building and rebuilding your hardware and we heard you that the previous terms were seen as an impediment to that -- it’s for that reason we’ve made this change. I hope that this change provides the flexibility you need, and gives you more reason to be excited about the upcoming retail release of our new operating system.
Source: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2006/11/02/news-revision-to-windows-vista-retail-licensing-terms.aspx

Windows Vista – Pros and Cons
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127629-page,1-c,vistalonghorn/article.html?CMP=KNC-SEM&HBX_PK=pcw_01-UPGRADE-VISTA&HBX_OU=50&tk=pcw_01-UPGRADE-VISTA&gclid=CMLzhbGMo4oCFQ6kWAodgmo4uQ

Answer 2

YES. There is a BIG difference. Until Windows fixes all the bugs in Vista (which will likely be never), I would STRONGLY advise AGAINST installing Vista. I bought a laptop a few mo. ago that came with Vista (once it was officially released), and after much research concluded that XP Media Center is actually a much better fit for my notebook's hardware.