Combining an innovative stylish interface with wizard-based screens, LinuxMCE 0704 is powerful, packed with features, and pretty (check out the demo). You don't need to be an engineer to set it up, and of course, it's free. What more could you ask for in a media center? Not much, according to the folks over at KDE Dot News. The latest offering from LinuxMDE, a joint effort with KDE, does pretty much everything you might want from an Open Source Media Center.

This thing's the guard dog of home media systems. LinuxMDE's remote Orbiters offer a unique blend of sci-fi and creepy: they control your entire home including your telecommunications system; remember individual user preferences; follow you from room to room (it can even link multiple homes); talk to and operate your mobile phone; act as a complete home security system; and will even babysit the kids. Need more storage to keep tabs on everyone? No problem; it also supports NAS!

I wonder if it makes decent coffee.

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