Following my previous post, Andrew Edney in the UK let us know he's writing a Home Server book, as well. Windows Home Server User's Guide will be available in October through Apress. Andrew is open to ideas and suggestions for the book. andrew@firebirdconsulting.co.uk
J
The Code2Fame Challenge entry requirements and official rules have been posted to the Windows Home Server web site.
Do you want industry exposure and some cash? Be one of the extraordinary coders in the USA or Canada who creates the best software and hardware add-ins for the soon-to-be-released Windows Home Server. Create cool software and/or hardware add-ins for Windows Home Server to simplify the digital lifestyles of families everywhere—or just to geek out. We are looking for creative use of the home server as a platform, as well as useful, cool, easy-to-use, and solidly performing value-adds to make Windows Home Server even more useful for families around the world.
We would have loved to make Code2Fame a worldwide contest, but due to the complexities of contest rules and regulations that vary by country, international tax laws, and travel requirements – we choose to limit this to USA and Canada. We know that that there are a lot of great developers throughout the world, and some people outside of the USA and Canada are building some really cool add-ins and sharing them via the Developers Forum on the community site.
Add-ins for Windows Home Server can help extend the customer experiences in the digital home. Two types of add-ins are applicable for the Code2Fame Challenge: software add-ins and hardware components. Windows Home Server and the Windows Home Server SDK enable the development of rich software solutions for the home that can combine always available services, configuration UI, Web applications, and applications that run on a home computer and interact with Windows Home Server.
The clock is ticking, entries must be postmarked by Saturday, August 25, 2007, and actually received by Microsoft by Friday, August 31, 2007. Looking forward to seeing some great add-ins.
t.
My name is Joel Burt and I work on the Windows Home Server team supporting the community and setting up hardware for events. I’m also a car and driving enthusiast. I thought I would share a story from this past weekend …
I had a fantastic weekend! Went out for a cruise with 350 other drivers, raised some money for a charity while enjoying a nice sunny day. It was basically 10 hours of driving enjoyment looking at beautiful cars on a beautiful day. As resting as it was, it takes a lot out of you. The last thing I wanted to deal with when I got home was a computer support phone call from my dad.
My dad is stubborn and bullheaded when it comes to certain things. I have been unable to convince him he needs to have a Windows Home Server in his home. He has 2 computers, high speed internet and two kids (15 and 12) still living at home, Xbox in the living room, his wife (my mom) takes all sorts of digital pictures and stores them on their computer. It’s basically the perfect setup for Windows Home Server. He just couldn’t see how or why he would need it.
I thought I could solve his newly introduced spyware problem because I had just fixed this exact same issue on my friend’s computer. My dad lives in Michigan so you can imagine how telling him how to download and install anti-spyware programs while dealing with pop-up ads, can be a bit frustrating on both ends. After about 30 minutes on the phone, I moved to having him port forward his router for Remote Desktop and enabling it on his computer. I then proceeded to remove this infection through Remote Desktop. Doing so outside of Safe Mode really is futile, but hey, it’s my dad and I had to try. End result, I am doing another hour or two tonight on the phone helping him reload his computer with Windows Media Center Edition 2005.
Before I informed him of reloading his computer, I told him that if he had accepted the Windows Home Server I wanted to give him, we would have been done a long time ago and he would have been up and running exactly how he was before he accidently clicked that virus-infected link. I love you dad, a box running Windows Home Server is in the mail.
JB