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[modelmaker]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1753761,00.asp

[hit_ny]

The author does not like

the solar-system view of home media championed by Microsoft, which puts a media-centric PC in the role of the sun, with an array of relatively dumb devices orbiting the PC like planets.

instead he prefers

a world of single-function peers. Each does a great job at one thing and connects wirelessly in a kind of media mesh, making content available anywhere in the house, whenever and wherever you want it. Intelligence is pushed out to the edge, to the devices, rather than being concentrated at the center?like the sun.

The alternative is easier to use but apt to get outmoded soon as formats change/improve. If manufacturers of said devices dont update firmware instead making you upgrade the device each time, it can become expensive after a while.

Media is storage heavy, so there has to be a generic file server of some sort in the network. He prefers instead of each manufacturer requiring thier own flavor of server, the the devices be able to talk TCP/IP or SMB.

I think the solar system view works out the best, the devices stay the same, and its the server software along with the PC that it lives on that gets upgraded, just like the web model


What do people think ?

[Krazykanuck]

I think the issue is that if each device has it's own software you have to deal with software conflicts on the server just like any normal PC. Just like when media center gets blamed when a video driver causes problems but only on some PC's.
Unfortunately the one application does all approach makes the server application much more complex and usually results in things like not all devices being supported or minimal support of devices in some cases. In other words only the most popular devices get fully supported.
Now you can say that's what standards are for but someone will dream up some new function to differentiate themselves that is not covered by the standards. As a result the new funtionality is not available until someone updates the all in one application again if there is enough demand.

Neither situation is really great. You either become a device/application troubleshooter or put up with reduced choices and functionality.