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Channel 10 PDC Interview With the Windows Home Server Team

Terry Walsh — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:23:24 +0000

Microsoft evangelism site Channel 10 has today released a video interview with Mark Pendergrast, Doug Berrett and Brendan Grant from the Windows Home Server team, following the sessions at PDC last week covering the integration of Windows Home Server and Live Mesh.

The interview also touches upon Webguide’s integration with Live Mesh, running as a Silverlight application from the Live Mesh desktop.

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More Info: Channel 10

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Minimise Me Brings IM Avatars to Live

Matthew Miller — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:45:28 +0000

Cruising the journals at Ars Technica, I caught wind of a new promotional service for Windows Live Messenger called Minimise Me. Minimise Me is a collaboration between Microsoft and MRM Worldwide (UK) that allows WLM users to easily create their own personalized character to use for their profile picture. It also creates a small set of personalized emoticons based on the character that you create. Alternatively, users can choose a character based on a UK celebrity to download or use as a starting point.

The character creation tool is very simple, but offers a wide range of characteristics and tools to customize those characteristics. In my character creation I resized several elements and adjusted the position and color of others. If you have tried the Spore Creature Creator or the Mii creator on the Nintendo Wii, you will feel immediately at home. After creating your character, you can download it. By default, the service will download a small executable that will install the profile picture and emoticons directly into WLM. From the final page you can also click on the “Help with Download” link to download your character as a 96×96 jpg to use on other services such as Windows Live Spaces or Facebook. Hopefully this feature will be elevated to a more prominent position so that users do not miss it as I almost did.

I realize that there are probably already sites out there that provide a similar service and there are hundreds of places to download unique emoticons, but like the folks over at Ars Technica, I find this release particularly interesting in the wake of the announcement of avatars for the Xbox 360. Microsoft has been pushing personalization across their platforms lately and it will be interesting to see if this service grows beyond a simple promotion. The 3D animated avatars of the 360 might be a bit too much for the Windows Live platform, but these IM avatars may be a quality alternative.

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Make the Most of Live Mesh

Matthew Miller — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:22:11 +0000

I recently put up a post to let everyone know that Microsoft had made Live Mesh available to a wider audience over at www.mesh.com. I have been playing with it a bit and will withhold judgement a bit longer, but I have enjoyed perusing the comments and seeing what you guys think of it. To that end, I wanted to follow up on some of those comments and highlight a couple of things on the Internet related to Live Mesh that have caught my eye over the last couple of days.

The Live Mesh team had indicated on their forums that this wider release was specifically for US users, but that international users could participate by changing their Windows region and language settings to EN-US. Mick pointed out in the comments that he was able to sign up from the UK. He did not mention whether he had to change the language and region settings, but at least it is confirmation from someone we know that international customers can indeed join in.

Ken asked the question I’m sure came immediately to mind for a lot of us: So when can we expect to get Live Mesh to work with my Windows Home Server? The obvious answer is: Who knows., but there is a long sticky post on the Live Mesh forums for feature requests. I haven’t read all sixteen pages yet, but I would imagine someone has asked a similar question there. I do recommend anyone interested in the future of Live Mesh try reading through at least part of the list. There are some neat ideas in there and enough consensus on some requests that Microsoft will almost certainly take heed.

Colin Walker was the first to comment the other day, lamenting the lack of mobile support. Not being much of a mobile phone user, I have no idea how useful it is, but LiveSide was tipped off that the mobile portal for Live Mesh has gone live over at http://m.mesh.com. You still can’t add mobile devices to the Live Mesh desktop or the client-side software and there is no mobile client software yet, but it seems to be a start in the right direction.

Finally, there was a bit of discussion in the comments about how to accomplish specific tasks with Live Mesh, such as synching folders between devices directly, without passing through the cloud. For anyone interested in tutorials on specific Live Mesh applications, I would suggest checking out Redmond Pie’s Live Mesh Scenarios Directory. There’s not much there yet, but I suspect it will become a valuable resource in the future. If any of our readers decide to post a tutorial there, be sure to drop us line and let us know.

As I mentioned, I am withholding judgement on Live Mesh until I can play with it a bit more. Additionally, it is important to keep in mind that this is a technical preview, so I am sure that things will change a great deal in the future, but Live Mesh is shaping up to be an important component in Microsoft’s Windows Live strategy.

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Live Mesh Now Live…Sorta

Matthew Miller — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:09:16 +0000

Live Mesh is one of the key components of Microsoft’s cloud computing initiative, providing the management functions necessary to fully synchronize data and settings across multiple devices.

Until recently, accessing the technical preview of Live Mesh has required submitting your name at Microsoft Connect, Microsoft’s beta community site, and crossing your fingers that you might be selected to join in the meshing fun. Now word comes from Liveside.net that the doors have been flung open, at least a bit.

If you are interested in trying out Live Mesh, head over to www.mesh.com.

A few caveats do await. This is still a technical preview and will be for some time. Anything you set up or use in this technical preview may be lost when Live Mesh enters its next iteration. You must have a valid Windows Live ID. At the moment, anyone in the US can join. International users will have to change their Windows region and language settings EN-US to join in. Finally, space is limited.The Live Mesh team is using this change to the sign-up process to double the number of people accessing the preview.

I have been looking forward to having a crack at Live Mesh and will post my thoughts after I have had a chance to really try it out. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Live Mesh and how you are putting it to use.

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Yet Another New Face - Welcome From Germany

Gregor Herdmann — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:59:44 +0000

The last week brought a couple of new people to this site – now it is time to remember another name…

Hey, I am Gregor Herdmann from Berlin, Germany, the newest addition to the international team at We Got Served. Some of you might have come across my name in the blogosphere before. I have been posting for LiveSide.net, a blog mainly focused on Windows Live and its competition, for some time (and I will continue to post there). I am a 22 year old law school student here in Berlin and while I know that this does not seem to have much to do with technology at first I am very interested in intellectual property law – brands, copyrights, patents – without them, no-one would spend money to create products…

I started using Windows Home Server during its early beta phase – after being truly amazed by the initial appearance at CES 2007. At home I am running a frankenmachine server with 2x 500GB storage. When I built my system, unfortunately the cool OEM hardware solutions were not yet on the market. As you may guess I am also running a test box with the public beta of Power Pack 1.

I was also an early adopter on the Windows Media Center front, as I was one of the lucky few to get invited to the first ever beta release that was intended for the German market – I have never stopped using it since. While WMC has made some significant improvements over the years I certainly share your pain about missing support for additional TV standards, features like Softsled or even basic 10 foot UI support for Recorded TV locations on the network (without using unsupported registry hacks) which would simplify the integration with Windows Home Server. The information on the Fiji release of Windows Media Center that leaked to the web indicates that the new product team in Europe is hard at work. And while not all feature requests will be served, some standards will be added by this release shortening the list of things desperately needed in the product.

Here at We Got Served, I will try to combine all three aspects of my digital world – Windows Home Server, Windows Media Center and Windows Live. They all could play a big role in the true digital media experience across the home and the web with a unified user experience. Let’s hope that the latest HP slogan – “the computer is personal again” – becomes reality soon. I am looking forward to the improvements the future might (hopefully) bring in this area for software and hardware alike as we all know how painful the setup of a connected experience can be today.

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Will We See OneCare for Windows Home Server?

Terry Walsh — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:53:46 +0000

Joe Wilcox revealedlast week that Microsoft are preparing a new version of Windows Live OneCare for Windows Server - the product will be bundled with Windows Small Business Server and Essential Server 2008, providing 12 months of free anti-virus protection for those systems.

Given the relationship between SBS and WHS (and the closeness of the teams and product strategies), it makes sense for Microsoft to offer a Windows Home Server version of the product, potentially covering just the server to begin with, but over time managing anti-virus protection on all home computers on the network.

Given Microsoft’s antitrust record over the past few years, free bundling of the product is risky but who knows, we may see a purchase/subscription model offered if Microsoft do decide to release OneCare for WHS - with only Avast! currently available, the anti-virus market for WHS is still to kick off.

Would you want to see Windows Live OneCare manage anti-virus protection across your home server network?

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Don’t All Shoot At Once :)

Steve Lindsay — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:11:42 +0000

So first of all hello everyone! As Terry mentioned I work for Microsoft and I’m pretty active in the Media Center / WHS circles both internally and externally. I also take part in the Microsoft Champion program which I’ll speak a bit more about in a minute.

I do want get the quick disclaimer out first. Although I know many of the team members involved in Home Server and Media Center, I’m not affiliated with either department internally. I actually work as a tools and infrastructure developer in the Forefront Server Security group as a day job That given, there are certain questions which I just won’t be able to answer. Obviously these are more on the political side of things and have to do with timing etc. All of which I will have no control over.

Don’t let that make you think I’m going to duck everything though, if I really can’t answer it I will tell you If I can help with something or provide a work around or theorize why something may be happening, I will. In addition if I’m not sure about some rumor etc I should at least be able to clarify internally something, but I make no promises to the extent of this yet

Just a quick note on the Champion program, this program is a volunteer program in Microsoft in which the employees can volunteer to ‘Champion’ areas of Windows Vista, Windows Live, Windows Mobile and Digital Enthusiast areas in general. A part of this role is to do what they can to interact and help the community as well as evangelizing around current capabilities and attracting users based on them. I think I’m a good fit for this due to being a natural tinkerer, I like to squeeze everything I can from something, and one thing I’ve found with Microsoft’s products is they ALWAYS do far more than you use them for. Sometimes these hidden or simply intricate features are deciding factors for small sets of users, and sometimes as these users don’t know they exist, they miss them altogether. One of my personal goals is to try and show people these things, so they get the fulfillment out of the product they want, we get a stronger community and the product helps lead us forward technically.

Ok now I got that part out of the way. YES I’M A BRIT - The second thing I am is totally crazy about Technology in general, Programming, Media Center, Windows Home Server, A.I, (some gaming, used to be a lot more - I got 1k Gamer score on Halo 3 within 2 weeks of release! , but time kills me now and I never get to game :(, Other things I’m crazy about are design and architecture and thinking of workarounds for problems which don’t have any (Hacks?!, it sounds so harsh :)) I also love Sci-Fi, especially Dr Who, Torchwood, Stargate SG-1 (Atlantis now), and Sarah Connor is growing on me again

In the Media Center / Windows Home Server portion of my life, I’ve been using Media Center since its original release in one way or another, I’ve tried pretty much every TV/Internet/Streaming technology you can think of, some I’ve loved, some I’ve hated and some I still think dang I wish MCE had that feature. Windows Home Server was something I’d literally been prowling the internet projects and lists looking for prior to us knowing anything about it internally. Then one day I saw it and it really matched up with what I’d been pouring over in my mind as the future of the digital home. Basically I’ve been hooked since.

I think at this point there isn’t anyone who doesn’t see the potential for the multiple end points we’re seeing in the home to need a central point of contact. I really believe WHS is that, obviously so do you guys as a community too. Terry has built by far one of the fastest growing communities I’ve ever seen in such a small portion of time. I believe this isn’t just because of Terry’s obvious skill in this area and his passion for the product (although that certainly IS a driving factor). It is also because you guys, the community, have such a belief in the potential of WHS that you have helped build a solid community foundation. I know for me when I first saw WHS it wasn’t an ‘OH MY ….’ moment but more of an ‘Of Course! At Last!’ moment.

With all of this in mind, my passion for the product comes from the same place as you guys. I see these multiple end points in my home (My computer screens, laptops, TV’s, digital picture frames, lights, mobile phones, land line phones, DVD backup drives, Modems, Printers, Cable boxes, video recorders, cameras, really I could go on) and I realize that all of these devices should have a single control panel, a single place where I can manage them from. A single place where I know my data will end up being backed up or be served up from; once I believed this solution was JUST Media Center. That changed with the ‘Of Course’ moment I mentioned above; it was the missing link. So now that it’s here, I want to help promote, evangelize and support it’s communities to the full extent of my influence, and help further aid the advancement of such an obviously centric part of the home in the next digital decade.

Anyway guys, I better stop prattling on and read some of your posts

Thanks for having me here

More Info: Ask Steve

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Windows Live Hotmail

Terry Walsh — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 07:57:43 +0000

I talked briefly the other day about Microsoft’s sometimes bizarre branding choices - often clunky, sometimes, just plain silly. They’ve done it again. You take the decision to rebrand some MSN services as Windows Live services, not all, just some. So Hotmail, becomes Windows Live Mail. Then you realise that actually Hotmail is quite a well known brand, andpotentially, you may scare a bunch of people away. So you think, “ah, lt’s go for Windows Live Hotmail instead!” Net net? You’ve taken a well known, succinct brand, made it more clunky and diluted it in one fell swoop.

Until MS start integrating Windows Live services into the desktop (I guess we now have Windows Live Hotmail Desktop, right? - catchy!) people aren’t going to understand what Windows Live actually means. Someone really needs to get a grip of this brand architecture and work out a clear story, first internally and then externally. At the moment, it seems like chaos rules.

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