The OS Debate

Well, it looks like everything is on track for getting here this afternoon, according to UPS.com. Additionally, things are looking up on the weather side as there is now a 30% chance of rain tomorrow! Woohooo! Come on baby, rain!

Initially, it was a no brainer for me regarding the OS. I was going to go with Vista Premium, and that's that. However, we all know that when one has time to ponder a decision, one tends to think of variables that were not readily apparent initially. I've weighing out the pros/cons of Vista Premium vs. XP Media Center Edition 2005, update rollup 2 and am very much on the fence at this point.

Vista MCE:
Pros

1. It's the current OS. MS is only doing maintenence on XP from now on, so any new feature/functions are Vista only.
2. Cooler interface plugins. If you've seen Fox Sports Plugin for Vista, you know what I'm talking about. A single screen, displaying the current scores to all sporting events on at that moment. You see a close game, you just select that game and you're brought right to it. It sounds small, but it's huge once you get used to it.
3. HD-DVD support. We're porobably going to buy a 360 HD-DVD drive soon. I love the facvt that I can just connect that puppy to Vista and bam, I'm in business.
4. Cooler UI. The wife really likes the Vista UI. WAF is critical. She liked MCE, but thinks Vista is better.
5. Improved 360 extender performance. MCE 2k5 was a bit sluggish when it came to 360 extender support. This has been greatly improved.
6. Better multi-tuner support with fewer manual hacks required.

Cons

1. No XBox V1 Extender support. This is enormous for me. I have 2 TVs ustairs with XBoxes on them, and if I go 100% Vista, those are toast! I read somewhere that someone was working on a hack for this, but I don't know anything about it.
2. Shakey NVidia video driver support. NVidia has been working on the Vista drivers for a while now. They're OK...not quite perfected yet, though. Of course, video is the critical part of any HTPC implementation.
3. Resource pig. It's no secret that Vista is a hog when it comes to system resources. Fortunately, there are options to speed things up a bit, such as disabling Aero and such. However, XP is still a bit more efficient.
4. See numer 1 again.

XP MCE 2005

Pros

1. Stable drivers. Let's face it, a solid, established platform generally results in greater stability.
2. XBox V1 extender support. Critical in my world. Of course, I could just take my current computer, drop MCE2k5 on it and slap it in the attic to drive the XBox V1s. I could easily access all the recorded TV and everything else on the Vista box, giving access to everything from every TV...but man, maintaining 2 setups sounds like a bit of a headache.
3. Less resources required. Granted, with the beast I'm building, I'm not certain how much of an issue that's going to be, but it's still a consideration.

Cons

1. No HD-DVD support. Oh, I'm sure someone's going to come up with a way, but I'd rather not have to rely on a hack.
2. Application sunsetting. Most developers are sunsetting XP apps in favor of new Vista versions. So basically, what we have is all we'll get.
3. UI issues. Granted, the 10' interface in MCE2k5 is pretty sweet, however, now that the LW (little woman) has had exposure to Vista, I'm not sure MCE will stack up.
4. It's old. OK, that's relative...I mean it is only 2 years old, but from a technology standpoint, that's OLD! I mean can I really hold my head up high around my friends when I know that they know that I'm running a 2 year old OS! Oh the shame!

Any input is appreciated!