Update: Turns out Boxee for Windows is still in private alpha. See the comments below.

I've got two good pieces of news regarding media center application Boxee. First up, it looks like the Windows version of the app has come out of private alpha and is now available for anyone to download. Second, a third party developer has come up with a nifty trick for getting Boxee to work with Windows Media Center.

Windows Vista Media Center does a great job of letting you watch and record live TV, but it kind of stinks when it comes to web video. Boxee, on the other hand, provides an awesome interface for accessing web video from Hulu, CBS, and the BBC iPlayer without a web browser. But it doesn't do live TV.

The folks at Missing Remote, along with media center developer Andrew Cherry came up with a solution: a way to use the two apps together almost seamlessly. Basically you just download and run a script and a Boxee icon will show up in Windows Media Center. By default it hangs out in the Pictures and Video area, but you can move it to the TV and Movies section if you like.

When you click the icon, Windows Media Center will be minimized and Boxee will launch. When you exit Boxee, Windows Media Center should come to the forefront. If it doesn't (as was the case several times during my test), just hit the green button on your media center remote control, assuming you have a media center remote control.

This solution isn't perfect. For starters, you have to make sure to exit Boxee when you're done, because if you don't your Boxee videos could keep playing in the background while you're using Windows Media Center. And because this is just a way to launch Boxee, not to actually make it part of Windows Media Center, it won't work with media extenders like the Xbox 360.

You can check out a video of Boxee working with Windows Media Center after the break.

[via eHomeUpgrade]