While the all-too-vocal critics of Windows Millennium Edition (Me, see my review) will tell you that Microsoft's last DOS-based Windows version was a dog, that release was notable for a number of other, more positive reasons. Among them was that Windows Me was the company's first stab at a truly consumer-oriented Windows version, one that embraced digital media technologies such photos, music, and video in a serious way for the first time. Since then, Microsoft has bolstered subsequent consumer versions of Windows, including the stellar Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (see my review) with even more powerful digital media tools. With Windows Vista, as you might expect, these capabilities have reached all-new levels. It's an exciting time to own a PC.
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