Win XP Pro vs Win MC

[darkcyber]

What is the real difference in Windows XP Pro and Windows Media Center 2005?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: darkcyber
What is the real difference in Windows XP Pro and Windows Media Center 2005?

MCE has most of the features of Pro (+ the MCE application). It's missing cached credentials (unless your upgrading from the older MCE version) and the ability to join a domain (which you can but breaks the MCE extender functionality as that requires Fast User Switching which isn't compatible with domain mode)

 

[mechBgon]

XP Pro is also going to get supported longer than MCE (patches, fixes), according to the Microsoft lifecycle info. Someone said "well, but security patches for Pro should work on MCE, since they start off the same," but who knows. Going by the book, MCE support expires two years after its successor (Vista) arrives. XP Pro gets a 5-year extended-support phase added to that.