This came up on Slashdot too and I've never seen so much anti-Microsoft FUD and outright rubbish spewed on the subject both there and on here.

Now all we need is an application which takes these wallpapers and automatically turns them into a Windows 7 theme!

I use TightVNC with my parents at the moment but there are a couple of issues:

Couple of nitpicks from a UK point of view:

Nice solution but to be honest, you might as well just install MediaBrowser and use that for your XBMC functionality. It integrates better and comes with a load of additional plugins for movie information, artwork etc.

If you don't want to get rid of Adobe Reader then there is a simple way to dramatically reduce the chance of you getting affected by these exploits.

To be honest, I've pretty much given up on all of these programs and resorted to Windows Defender (built into Windows 7) and the free download of Microsoft Security Essentials.

@PhilMize: Whilst Linux may be faster, running Windows XP on that spec works just fine.

If you're using Firefox, then install Compact Menu 2 ([addons.mozilla.org]) which makes the menu options accessible through a standard button.

I'm not sure what the revelation is. Here in Europe it's well known that if you can afford to pony up the unsubsidised price for a mobile phone then you can get a SIM only deal from the Network Operator and save money each month. Not to mention that you can always sell it on when you're finished because it'll be…

$99 without contract? Don't you think that if this kind of price point was in any way possible for a touchscreen Android product that maybe someone might have already launched something?

@PatrickPortland: Why on earth would you tip your mail man? What exactly do they do above and beyond delivering your mail that would warrant it?

@djsmiley2k: To be fair, having used various distributions over the years, I don't :)

@sanguis: No brand new product is going to beat your pricing if you re-use old components. Good for you that you can do that, however that is a pretty unfair comparison.

@brodiemac: And what, exactly, is wrong with that? You get cheap dedicated hardware which does exactly what you expect it to do (without any hacking or finger crossing) and a software platform which is regularly updated and supported.

@brianary: Although it doesn't say, it'll be very likely to be Ubuntu Linux - on the basis that they can't use OSX and Windows would significantly increase the cost of the box for no real benefit (considering you're buying it for boxee and nothing else).

I use an outbound firewall not for stopping malware but stopping programs which have *absolutely no reason* to connect to the internet from doing so.

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to get Windows Media Center and xbmc running together nicely on the same box?

Looks interesting but isn't compatible with Firefox 3.5.3.

@paintbox: You're right, in fact you don't actually need this at all since Windows 7 is set up to automatically defrag all the attached drives once a week. #windows7