I home today, courtesy of President's 1 and 16, and so have a little more time to think about the next step in my newly transplanted PC, which is now parked in an Antec media case under the HD plasma tv. I would like to have more control over recording tv shows than is allowed through the cable TV's DVR, so I am faced with a choice.

Although I'm fairly certain that most Slashdot readers would think this a no-brainer - Mythtv or a variant like Knoppmyth is the the way to go, I also have the option of downloading an upgrade to Vista Home Premium, which includes the latest version of Windows Media Center.

For the record - I am an extreme commuter - 5 hours a day is consumed by my daily trip to and from the Big Apple, so there is precious little time to delve into Linux to get a functional media center pc. I have only used a couple of distros - yes, a Linux noob am I.

Still, I'd be interested in hearing the merits of Knoppmyth over using Vista Home Premium, with the emphasis on ease of installation. While I realize some preparation is required for either installation to go smoothly, like selecting compatible tuner cards, I think I am like many consumers when it comes to things technical - I just want them to work!

$159.00 for Vista Home Basic does not seem like a lot of money to get an OS that was five years in the making, and one that (in my humble experience with Win2K and XP AFTER a service pack or two) works reliably and does what I need it to do.

BTW, I am not concerned about DRM - so please address the ease of installation issue only.

So far, I am 13 for 13 in stories submitted to Slashdot - all rejected. So I have decided to enter all stories I submit in my journal, in case someone might find them useful. Below is a similar story I put on my blog with essentially the same information.

While writing my previous post, I was looking for information about Computer Shows. I found the MarketPro web site, and then clicked on the link for the Allentown Fair Grounds. The correct link to the Allentown Fair Grounds is

http://www.allentownfair.com

The web site, however, had mistakenly coded it as

http://http://www.allentownfair.com

The extra http:// takes you to none other than tada! www.microsoft.com. I tried adding the extra http:// on a few other web sites, and they all will redirect to Microsoft. I also searched for references to this phenomenom on Google, but did not find any direct matches.

When you consider how many times this might happen in the course of a day, it seems that Microsoft has found a very interesting way to drive traffic to their site.

Remember, you heard it here first!

I am really pleased that I can add some Mod points and possibly contribute to highlighting an overlooked post. Very busy at work today - I hope I can use my points before they expire!

The Pocono PC Doctor is a Mod - my avatar is cool!