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Buying Guide: Does the PC Belong in the Living Room?
"No Way"
Jim Louderback: I call it the babysitter test. Can I give a remote control to a 15-year-old, gum-snapping Valley Girl and explain, clearly and succinctly in less than 3 minutes, how she can watch TV? Without getting a panicked call when American Idol begins? TiVo passes the test. Nothing that runs under Microsoft Windows will.
There's also the spousal acceptance factor. When I'm out playing poker, am I guaranteed that she'll be able to watch Desperate Housewives without interrupting my royal flush? Windows Media Center is great, but you know Windows will crash at the worst possible moment.
It's not as if the PC is a newcomer to the living room. Heck, Gateway was hawking its Destination line of big-screen PC/TVs back in the mid-1990s. But the PC does too many things too imperfectly ever to be more than a token member of the living room, family, or den.
Enter the console. The Microsoft Xbox 360 leads the way, with a bright, easy-to-use, appliance-like interface that anyone can understand. It just works—unlike a PC. The Sony PlayStation3 also promises similar appliance-like functionality, coupled with PC power. No one wants to browse the Web in the living room on a 6-foot TV. Put that PC back in the basement where it belongs. Your babysitter, wife, and friends will thank you.—Jim Louderback, Editor-in-Chief of PC Magazine.
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