[url=http://www.missingremote.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2456&Itemid=231]Original Article Link[/url]
Your 100% right. Softsled as a traditional software Extender will never happen. There will never be a program or feature in Media Center that basically emulates/connects to Media Center like hardware Extenders do.
What we really need (and want) is #7. Allowing sharing the EPG, automatic media discovery and sharing, use WMDRM-ND to stream protected content to other Vista PC’s.
Softsled = Resource sharing.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2007/05/15/906436.aspx