Yesterday we announced the ten finalists in the Windows Home Server Add-in Idea Challenge ’09. Today, and for the next two weeks, you can vote for the idea you’d like to see developed into an add-in which will be released before the end of the year.

Remember, this is not just about kudos – your vote will decide how we split up over $8000 of digital home kit between the finalists. But wait, there’s an incentive for you to vote too. Simply send your email address to the email address shown following your vote and you’ll go into the draw for a fantastic digital home kit, including:

• HP MediaSmart Server LX195
• 500Gb Fujitsu Storagebird External Hard Drive
• Diskeeper for Windows Home Server
• My Movies for Windows Home Server

As a quick refresher, here are the list of finalists (full descriptions here: AIC09 Finalists – Details):

Okay, once you’ve read through the finalists and you’re ready to vote, do so using the panel below. You only have one vote, so make it count and don’t forget to send your email address to enter the competition (the address to send it to will pop up when you vote!).

Good luck to all and a big thanks once again to everyone who submitted an idea, as well as our runners-up, finalists and competition supporters. We’re excited to hear your views so use the comments box to let us know who you’ve voted for and why, as well as how you’d build on the ideas even further.

The time has come. Alexander, Felix, Christoph and I had a lot of fun reading through the hundreds of ideas submitted by the Windows Home Server community for new add-ins and it’s time to let you know who made the final ten.

Starting Monday 15th June and running through until Tuesday 30th June, you will have the chance to judge the AIC ‘09 Finalists, and vote for the one which you want to be developed into an add-in and released before the end of the year.

Yesterday, we released details of the 20 runners-up, whose fantastic ideas will hopefully be picked up by eager community developers out there – well done to you guys for a great set of ideas.

The Finalists

I’m delighted to announce that the following ideas made the final shortlist. (Brief descriptions are provided here, and the attachment below provides a full description from each entrant). In alphabetical order:

I hope you agree, that’s a great set of finalists with ideas covering a wide range of enhanced features for Windows Home Server. I’d personally install every one of them on my home server if they were made available!

Full Add-in Descriptions

Each entrant has provided a detailed description of how their add-in would work, which you should read through to help you evaluate each idea. We haven’t altered these descriptions at all (except to translate them into German for our friends over at the Home Server Blog).

Download them here: AIC09 Finalists – Details

Voting Begins Tomorrow

We’ll publish details of how to vote here on the site tomorrow. Remember, every vote counts as not only are we deciding which add-in will get published, you’re also voting which idea is worthy of the prizes we have on offer from our supporters.

Remember too, that we’ll also be pulling out one vote at random, who will receive the following great prize pack:

Home Server Prize Pack including:

• HP MediaSmart Server LX195
• 500Gb Fujitsu Storagebird External Hard Drive
• Diskeeper for Windows Home Server
• My Movies for Windows Home Server

So, make sure you check back tomorrow for the final leg of the Windows Home Server Add-in Idea Challenge ‘09!

PS. A Very Big Thank You once again to this year’s competition supporters:

Whilst Jungle Disk already offer an add-in for Windows Home Server which allows you to use their online backup service, its feature set is pretty limited compared to the desktop edition of the software.

A new add-in by Pål Andreassen allows you to install an monitor Jungle Disk’s standard desktop software on your home server, and monitor it via the WHS Console.

So, you can now use all of the features of Jungle Disk desktop edition on your home server!

Requirements

- Jungle Disk Desktop Edition must be already installed on the home server.

- This Add-In has only been tested on the latest Jungle Disk version (2.5)

Known Issues

- Setting window does not save path to junglediskmonitor.exe

- This version requires jungle disk to be installed to C:Program FilesJungle Disk Desktop

- For some reason the jungle disk monitor seems to flicker when run inside the Home Server Console

- Still no setup MSI package. Installation is manual for now.

- Some times you need to click the “Jungle Disk” icon in the toolbar twice before the application loads

Download: Jungle Disk WHS (Desktop Edition) | Community Support

Padding around the floors of CES this week, one big trend I saw from the big Consumer Electronics manufacturers was the launch of the networked TV.

Sony, Samsung, LG and Toshiba were all showing off TVs with ethernet connections which could be used to display Yahoo widgets (which were everywhere and causing a lot of interest) as well as content from YouTube, Picasa and others.

A couple of models were boasting DLNA compliance, which meant that they could very easily connect to other compliant storage devices around the home (like a home server running Twonky Media Server, perhaps?) and playback Music, Videos and Photos without the need for any kind of separate set top box, extender or digital media receiver.

I think this is great for two reasons – firstly, who needs more boxes under the TV? Secondly, the big CE guys are very experienced in communicating features in simple and easy ways for consumers to understand. Sure, they’ll all create silly names for network playback like BraviaLink Display+ but, the feature will work every time, consumers will understand what it does and best of all, whilst the TV will be able to play lots of content in the cloud, it will reinforce the benefits of a home server, acting as a hub for all of your media.

This is probably the main reason we didn’t see any new Extender news from HP, Linksys and D-Link at CES this year, but expect to see more networked TVs, DVD and Blu-Ray players heading your way in the next few years.

Here’s a few shots I took of networked TVs around the show:

LG showing networked TVs and the same NAS device displayed at IFA last summer, as part of a “Connected Home” exhibit.

We’ve already discussed Toshiba’s adoption of Windows Media Center:

Sony’s DLNA compliant TV will play content from compliant devices including home servers:

as will Samsung’s own DLNA compliant offering:

With millions of dollars about to be spent by these guys educating consumers on the connected home (let’s face it, TV companies have to sell TVs and there’s not a lot of other news for them to shout about right now) there’s a huge opportunity for Microsoft and home server manufacturers to jump on board and shout about how their products will realise the value of the TV purchase.

The next version of Windows Home Server will be DLNA compliant out of the box – up until then, TwonkyMedia Server gives any home server DLNA compliance for $30 bucks or so. Things are becoming a lot more simple for consumers who want to get this stuff working together.

The next 24 months will be interesting – let me know what you think.

Last night at CNTRSTG here in Las Vegas, Ian Dixon hosted The Digital Lifestyle Awards Party.

Ian used the event to announce the winners of a series of Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server awards, voted for by listeners to his weekly podcast.

I got the chance to meet with some of Ian’s listeners who were here for the show along with other Microsoft MVPs, bloggers and podcasters.

I’m delighted to say the We Got Served picked up the award for Best Windows Home Server community, which is a great honour and recognition of the work we do here at this site.

I promise I didn’t cry during my acceptance speech, but did want to thank everyone who contributes to WGS, including our writers, forum moderators, wiki contributors and readers. Thanks, of course, also to our advertisers and sponsors who help us keep the site running, and most importantly, to everyone who took time out to vote for us.

What a great start to 2009! Ian will have his awards show online in the next few days.

Microsoft make their MVP (Most Valuable Professional) awards to members of various product communities twice a year, in January and October.

Yesterday saw the award given to two new Windows Home Server MVPs – Eric B Rux and, a little closer to home, We Got Served’s lead forum moderator Drashna.

Update: A third person has received the award, it’s Martin Rothschink, the developer of LightsOut!
Update 2: Plus a fourth – Olaf Engelke from Germany!

Drashna’s does amazing work in our forums, supporting Windows Home Server users and writing many of the tutorials and walkthroughs you love reading here at WGS.

We’re all delighted that the Windows Home Server team at Microsoft appreciate and have recognised his contribution.

Congratulations to Eric, Drashna Olaf and Martin!

More Info: Windows Home Server MVP Page

Ian Dixon has opened up voting in The Digital Lifestyle 2008 Awards, and within the categories listed, you’ll see an award for Best Windows Home Server Community Resource. If you think we deserve a vote then head on over and vote for us. If you think we don’t, then head on over and nominate someone else!

If you’re in a voting mood over the weekend, do make sure you get your votes in for this year’s WGS Reader Awards – we’ve already had well over 500 votes, so make sure you add your voice to those we’ve already heard.

We’re a little late this month collating the add-in download statistics for October, which is wholly due to a short break I had last week over in Japan. So, if you’ve been wondering what add-ins the WGS community has been downloading recently, here’s the results for October!

1. Advanced Admin Console
2. WHS Disk Management
3. AutoExit 2008 for Windows Home Server
4. My Movies for Windows Home Server
5. LightsOut
6. uTorrent
7. Router Control
8. Whiist
9. WHS Customizer
10. Duplication Info for Windows Home Server

So whilst Advanced Admin Console rules the roost once again, the big news is My Movies clocking up a lot of downloads in its debut month, and hitting number 4 in the charts.

If you check out We Got Served’s add-ins section, make sure you rate any add-in you download so the rest of the community can see what’s hot and what’s not.

More Info: WGS Add-ins

Here’s what the Windows Home Server community has been downloading in September:

1. Router Control
2. Download Manager
3. Advanced Admin Console
4. WHS Disk Management
5. WHS Customizer
6. AutoExit 2008
7. LightsOut
8. uTorrent
9. Whiist
10. Duplication Info

More Info: Windows Home Server Add-Ins

“On the heels of a tremendous reception by customers for version 1 of Windows Home Server, the team just released power pack 1 last week, and is beginning the planning of the next big release. To staff up a rock solid team for delivering the top notch UI for the next release, we are looking for a developer with a strong passion for slick UI. You would be responsible for designing and coding the very visible and highly confidential UI capabilities that we are adding to Windows Home Server. Just to give a couple of examples ? Time Machine compete UI for backup and restore, Windows Media Center integration UI, Live Mesh integration UI etc.. are three of the top UI deliverables for our next version. Yes, we are positioning ourselves as THE backup and Media Server within the home by this release. We do not take UI lightly and have assembled a team that will bring the concept of ?servers? into the home with rave reception by both analysts and consumers.”

I have my fingers crossed that this is the real deal, but I do have some doubts. I tried to find the posting over at Microsoft’s career site to confirm the legitimacy of the posting, but the site seems to be down at the moment. Frankly, it seems a little too good to be true.  Every feature that the community has been clamoring for laid out to the public in a job posting? 

What do you think?

Update: A Program Manager’s job has also been posted online – job role involves working with the Windows Live and eHome Teams (seemingly confirming that Live Mesh and Media Center integration are on the product roadmap for Vail (Windows Home Server v2) and also pointing to a two SKU strategy for the product (“Premium” and “Basic”)

Here’s the detail on the position (in case you want to apply!)

Job Title: Program Manager
Job Category: Software Development
Product: Windows Home Server
Date Posted: 09/03/2008
Job Code: 241847
Location: WA – Redmond
Travel Required:

Do you want to work in a small entrepreneurial team where you own key decisions for one of Microsoft’s hottest consumer products – Windows Home Server?

We are looking for passionate program managers to define and deliver customer-focused solutions for the next major release of Windows Home Server. You will be challenged with developing customer experiences for the connected home that are simple and seamless. The challenges include innovating new connected home capabilities “headless” (no monitor/keyboard) setup, multiple SKUs: “premium” and “basic”, and driving reliability and ease-of-use to greatly exceed the expectations for a consumer product.

This position is for a Program Manager to drive feature execution across Windows Home Server installation, setup, local and remote recovery scenarios as well as working closely with our OEM and ISV partners in the creation of an integrated experience for Windows Home Server. As the owner of one of the core pillars of Windows Home Server, you will get to work with teams both inside and outside of Windows Home Server, including eHome and Windows Live teams. Windows Home Server Code Name “Vail” will be a great project to have on your future resume.

Responsibilities include:

Drive Windows Home Server setup, configuration and recovery features – managing the feature team, creating specs, triaging bugs, and owning and closing any issues

Developing expertise and driving planning for new features that enhance the simplicity of the product

Coordinating the integration of multiple code bases into a single package

Representing the feature team in planning meetings

Requirements include:

Excellent cross group collaboration and project management skills

Excellent written and verbal communicative skills

Proven history managing feature work through at least one full software product development life cycle

A minimum of 3 years shipping software experience in a PM, dev or test role

Experience in Windows Deployment technologies such as Component Based Setup is a plus

One word of caution here – just because a product feature is communicated on a job ad, and even if that feature exists on the product roadmap, there’s no guarantee it actually will end up in the product. But it certainly seems that pthe lanning on features for Vail is progressing and the team are building resource towards a great release. No word in dates at this point, and if the features mentioned above are indeed planned for the product then the development cycle for Vail will not be trivial, so don’t expect the release of that product any time soon.

More Info: Microsoft.com

As part of an ongoing push to engage more developers to support the Windows Home Server platform, Microsoft today published a 17 page document acting as a guideline for the creation and integration of add-ins for the operating system.

The document provides high level advice to developers on maintaining Windows Home Server’s strong user experience, through careful consideration of the following design recommendations:

1. Software solutions should work without additional configuration.
2. Issues should resolve automatically.
3. The console is not a general-purpose desktop.
4. Software must be installed through the Add-In page in Windows Home Server Settings
5. Console tabs should be used only when appropriate.
6. Console tabs should be limited.
7. Application configuration must be conducted through a Windows Home Server Settings page.
8. Notifications should be used sparingly.
9. The colour blue must be used *lots* (OK, I made that one up)

There’s lots more detail on these topics in the document, which is essential reading for all community and other developers out there thinking of writing add-ins for Windows Home Server.

Download: microsoft.com

You can’t spend too much time in the Windows Media Center Community without learning about and coming to love The Green Button.  The Green Button is perhaps the largest and most active forum site for the Windows Media Center community and has been the go-to place to learn about WMC add-ins, get technical advice, and express one’s opinions about Windows Media Center.

As it turns out, the community is not alone in their love for The Green Button as Daniel Sterling, the administrator at TGB, has announced in the forums that TGB has been purchased by Microsoft.

Daniel is promising a few changes will come as a result.  The most obvious change will be the elimination of ads, at least for the time being.  The ads on TGB were never that intrusive, but I’m sure the community will not miss them either.  There are cosmetic changes planned as well as unannounced functionality additions.  The site will also be physically moving to the Microsoft data centers where it will be able to receive the love, attention, and back-end support necessary to enhance the community infrastructure.

Daniel is also promising that the free flow of ideas and opinions will not be restricted under Microsoft’s ownership.  While immediate reaction on the TGB forums to the news of the Microsoft acquisition has been understandably apprehensive, there is reason to be optimistic.  Microsoft has a long history of running community and technical forums for specific products as a means of engaging target markets, expanding mind share, and collecting product feedback.

From everyone at We Got Served, congratulations to Daniel and the Media Center team at Microsoft on their acquisition – we look forward to seeing how TGB will evolve, and its continued success.