Why Can’t the WMP Team Be Like the MCE Team? Chris Lanier nails it right on in his post “Why Can’t the WMP Team Be Like the MCE Team.” I’ve really enjoyed reading Michael Creasy, Matt Goyer and Sean Alexander as they blog about MCE. They create, to borrow from the perhaps overused Scoble reference, a human face for the MCE product. They provide a means of communication and are a very valuable resource to the product. Hat’s off to them for their important work.
I agree with Chris that to a degree though MCE is only as strong as it’s weakest link. The product, like many Microsoft products, relies on integration with other products and most significantly Windows Media Player. Now Windows Media Player is an amazing piece of software and as I’ve said in the past is perhaps the biggest freebie of the decade — but like anything it can be improved.
The Windows Media Player User Group is a less than optimal place to discuss Windows Media Player. Posts are difficult to track. There is a lot of clutter. There is no central person or point to aggregate the information. I’d love to see some of the folks on the WMP team step up to the challenge and begin to be the public face of the WMP product. There is so much exciting and important work to be done in this area. The technology over the next few years for personal media is booming and in addition to providing key support to MCE, Windows Media Player will play an important role in this.
Nice work Chris on bringing attention to this important area. By the way, anyone have any idea on when we might see a Windows Media Player 11 beta?