Media Center 'Fiji' = Windows Vista Media Center Feature Pack 2008

I put this on the front page the other day to see if anyone noticed, but no one did. Not coincidentally, Mary Jo Foley turned up yesterday with a post about beta testing of Fiji, a long-awaited Media Center update: there’s been no word in ages from Microsoft about “Fiji,” the next version of Windows Media Center Edition. But that isn’t because Fiji has evaporated. In fact, the Fiji beta began a few weeks ago, according to a few sources with whom I’ve spoken and who’ve asked to keep their identities under wraps. It’s not clear how many testers are part of this current test phase. There’s also no word on when and if Microsoft is going to tap the many other Fiji testers whom the company has signed up over the past year-plus or when Microsoft expects Fiji — also known as “Media Center Edition +1″ in some circles — is due out. Actually, it's not called "Media Center Edition +1." (That would be Vista Home Premium, wouldn't it?) It's called Windows Vista Media Center Feature Pack 2008. And it should include a completion of the user interface makeover that Microsoft began working on in the Vista version of Media Center, though the initial beta is alarmingly identical to the UI for the shipping version of Vista Media Center. Expect Windows Vista Media Center Feature Pack 2008 later this year. October 1 or so.