I applaud anyone taking the time to do this sort of thing and sharing it with the world. That said, this review is very limited and of little value in terms of weighing the two options against each other. Seconds here, kilobytes there... matters little for most users. Usability, familiarity, compatibility matters more, and there, I think, MS Office beats OO . I'm no big MS fan, and I've used OO extensively (and I think it's great there is an alternative), but I don't think this 'review' tells us much of anything in terms of picking one or the other.
Know that institutions of higher education are full of excentric (but sometimes brilliant) people, and it's a perfect breeding ground for politics. I'm not saying that commercial businesses are void of politics (they are obviously not) but universities are on a different (higher) level of politics. And it's a world full of arbitrary decisions, not always based on the rules we might be used to from other arenas. Basing decisions on ROI, feasibility and other things that might make perfect sense elsewhere often don't get used in the academic world. Be aware of this and you will do much better.
I only have experience of MCE2005 so I cannot comment on the other products, but MCE05 works wonderfully well (and I am no big M$ fan). I took a PC we don't use much (P4 2.4GHz, 1Gb RAM, 120Gb hd, Nvidia FX5200), added a 802.11b PCI card, wireless Logitech keyboard/mouse, Hauppauge 150MCE, an MCE05 remote control, and I was in business. A small investment, and I can watch/record TV, watch/record DVDs, get online, play games, etc. The computer is hidden away in a cabinet next to the TV. In my book, MCE2005 is a very good product, and I don't think its quality is going to decide if it's a flop or not. Rather there needs to be more options in terms of buying a MCE PC (most are too expensive). I also think it's like with many other M$ products, they eventually get it right and often dominate the market (look at PocketPC).
I am not an avid gamer but I play once in a while, and probably buy 3-4 games per year. I'd probably buy a couple more if the price was lower - $50+ is too much I think for most games (very few are worth that much money). I don't mind CD-keys, and some copy-protection, but if I cannot make bakup copies of my own cds or make cd images out of them, that will turn me off buying games. And as others have pointed out it should clearly state on the box what protections are in place so I can make an informed decision about whether to buy that game or not. I do download the occasional game, but if it is something I really like and keep playing then I pay for it.
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I applaud anyone taking the time to do this sort of thing and sharing it with the world. That said, this review is very limited and of little value in terms of weighing the two options against each other. Seconds here, kilobytes there... matters little for most users. Usability, familiarity, compatibility matters more, and there, I think, MS Office beats OO . I'm no big MS fan, and I've used OO extensively (and I think it's great there is an alternative), but I don't think this 'review' tells us much of anything in terms of picking one or the other.
Know that institutions of higher education are full of excentric (but sometimes brilliant) people, and it's a perfect breeding ground for politics. I'm not saying that commercial businesses are void of politics (they are obviously not) but universities are on a different (higher) level of politics. And it's a world full of arbitrary decisions, not always based on the rules we might be used to from other arenas. Basing decisions on ROI, feasibility and other things that might make perfect sense elsewhere often don't get used in the academic world. Be aware of this and you will do much better.
I only have experience of MCE2005 so I cannot comment on the other products, but MCE05 works wonderfully well (and I am no big M$ fan). I took a PC we don't use much (P4 2.4GHz, 1Gb RAM, 120Gb hd, Nvidia FX5200), added a 802.11b PCI card, wireless Logitech keyboard/mouse, Hauppauge 150MCE, an MCE05 remote control, and I was in business. A small investment, and I can watch/record TV, watch/record DVDs, get online, play games, etc. The computer is hidden away in a cabinet next to the TV. In my book, MCE2005 is a very good product, and I don't think its quality is going to decide if it's a flop or not. Rather there needs to be more options in terms of buying a MCE PC (most are too expensive). I also think it's like with many other M$ products, they eventually get it right and often dominate the market (look at PocketPC).
I am not an avid gamer but I play once in a while, and probably buy 3-4 games per year. I'd probably buy a couple more if the price was lower - $50+ is too much I think for most games (very few are worth that much money). I don't mind CD-keys, and some copy-protection, but if I cannot make bakup copies of my own cds or make cd images out of them, that will turn me off buying games. And as others have pointed out it should clearly state on the box what protections are in place so I can make an informed decision about whether to buy that game or not. I do download the occasional game, but if it is something I really like and keep playing then I pay for it.