Dave - where did you go?

re: Dave - where did you go?

BlakeHandler — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 08:31:20 GMT

Congrats on your version 2.0 addition -- and yes, you are read. So start blogging about the Media Center Edition in Vista! ha ha

re: Dave - where did you go?

Peter Near — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 16:31:49 GMT

The beauty of RSS is that it can linger untouched for 6 months without bothering any of your readers, and then they get a pleasant surprise one day.

>We can talk about anything you guys like.
Tell us about your secret project!

>my project...is the only limit I have right now.
Aw nuts!

I'd love to hear more about the internal goings-on at Microsoft especially as it comes to project management. I know that it takes a high bar to get features in late in the game, but I'd love to hear more about how features get decided early on. How is an idea presented, what are the metrics as to whether or not it gets implemented, what sorts of discussions and championing happen internally, and what can cause plugs to get pulled along the way.
I assume that like all companies these things happen, but with MCE I find it particularly compelling because there are so many cool things that could be done, that are asked for by users, and that are dreamed of by teammates but there has to be a limit set somewhere.

Oh, and if you change your mind on telling us about your secret project that would be cool too. ;-)

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re: Dave - where did you go?

Bill — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:23:01 GMT

Glad to see you posting again, especially with Matt's latest news of leaving the company.

Oh, and I'll gladly PayPal $1.00 for you to spill the beans. ;-)

re: Dave - where did you go?

ALIJAH GREEN — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:32:32 GMT

how about the hardware that we will need to run mce when windows vista comes out

re: Dave - where did you go?

david.fleischman — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:57:14 GMT

Wow. Cash for spilling the beans. I should have started an auction.

There are a few ideas for good posts above. Next post I'll talk a bit about Vista and what I like about it and MCE (note I am NOT a cheerleader type so this is honest on my personal part).

Next post I'll talk more about how features come into the product. What I'm working on came in very late and we can talk at a high level about how that happened and what that means for me, my team, and the feature. Sound good?

re: Dave - where did you go?

Peter Near — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:27:00 GMT

re: Dave - where did you go?

Dave — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:06:11 GMT

I would also like to hear more about product/project management within your team (or MS in general), maybe a detailed look at a single feature and how it started and moved to release. Please include an idea of time it takes and the hurdles it had to go thru as well as your involvement.

I would also like to hear some insight as to what went into the UI changes. I have a wife and a 4 year old that use Media Center (even more than I do) and I find it hard to believe the Media Center UI in Vista is going to be as easy.

re: Dave - where did you go?

George Blais — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 06:48:29 GMT

Are the enhancements implicit in Vista the reason for the massive abandoment of the Media Center Extender market (except for XBox of Course)

re: Dave - where did you go?

Michael Gannotti — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:53:24 GMT

So I guess you can tell you are read :-)
I am interested in everything Media Center/Extender/Zune Integration/Connected eHome so its all good (see my walkthrough of my own connected eHome at http://www.mikeysgblog.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=75 ) I LOVE MCE!!!

re: Dave - where did you go?

david.fleischman — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:49:17 GMT

Thanks for all the posts everyone. I'm hoping to get a new post tonight. I'm on vacation at the moment - getting chores done at home - so I guess sort of a vacation.

re: Dave - where did you go?

Michael Gannotti — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 06:48:08 GMT

You mean you don't work and blog 24X7? Slacker! ;-)
I am in the middle of struggling with using Camtasia 2.0 (no budget for newer version) and Vista for a work related project http://www.mikeysgblog.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=233 and I am ready to pul my hair out, or at least what is left of it.
Am seriously looking forward to your posts and since you are on vacation you should relax and ignore us here until you are back to work.
;-)

re: Dave - where did you go?

brad huizenga — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 07:37:28 GMT

Are we going to see Xbox 360 controller support in Vista Media Center via Xinput? It doesn't seem to work with current builds of Vista that have been released, but you would think it would be a surefire feature.

re: Dave - where did you go?

Anonymous - Europe — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:48:31 GMT

OK, here is the real reason MCE in Vista is a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR yawn and sorry half completed application in Europe (5 years since launch when Vista is released):

* No MHEG Support for Europe & Australia which is fro DVB-T digital text and interactive services
* NO DVB-S Support
* No proper guide population by reading the OTA guide for first 7 days
* No recording of whats in the TV Buffer if you press record and programme already started
* No simple controls of things like CROSS FADE ON/OFF for Music - have to go back to Media Player for that!
* No HD-DVD or BluRay playback

and many other features, even simple ones...

In short, criminal and once again Microsoft missed the boat.

If you dont want to put European features in and be for the US, then simple, dont get people hooked by launching into those locales!!!!

Media Portal or Apple Front Row - Grab the market and teach MS a lesson. Hate to say it, because I usually defend MS !

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re: Dave - where did you go?

simong — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 01:25:26 GMT

Multiple monitor support be nice!

Wife watches full screen tv while i browse the net all from the same machine, other than that red button support for uk users - but accept its not likley

re: Dave - where did you go?

Cody Cutrer — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 09:29:46 GMT

Are MCX 1.0 devices no longer supported in Vista? They didn't work in Beta 2, and I'm wondering if that was just an admission in that release while core MCE stuff was being worked on, and MCX 2.0 was higher priority, or is MCX 1.0 just being dropped completely. I'd hate to see my three original Xbox's instantly become paper weights (and my parents won't be too happy either). Also, any news if SoftSled will ever be renewed, now that MCE will be retail available and theoretically even more users will have it without tuners (with maybe one machine in the house that does have tuners). Even better would be features like MythTV, where multiple MCE machines could cooperate and share tuners amongst themselves, so if I have an analog and a digital in one, and a dual analog in another, from a guide on a single computer I could select up to four shows to record at the same time (three analog, one digital), or if all tuners in one machine are busy recording, and I want to watch something else live, it streams it from the other machine. That would just be rockin!!! (And possibly backport those types of features to MCE 2005 if I'm forced to keep an XP box around just to service the MCX 1.0 devices).

re: Dave - where did you go?

Jeppe Ravn — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 15:50:00 GMT

David,

I think the most important feature we need is the DVB-T support for Europe. This one single missing feature is the main reason why I am looking at other products. I dont know why it should be so difficult to add this feature..

Ohh and haow about an xbox360 silencer solution?? 41dB of noice is quit a bit for a small box like that :-) ...

Jeppe

re: Dave - where did you go?

Rasmus Aaen — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 17:16:12 GMT

I'll second that. The fact that MCE cannot display DVB-T subtitles is the single reason I have started looking for alternatives. Come on - it can't be that hard to implement - others have done it. As for the market, most western european countries use or is planning to use DVB-T. The only answer i have had from Microsoft is that "we hope to support it somtime in the future".

/Rasmus

Surprises still to come with Vista MCE

Peter Near's Blog — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:24:22 GMT

I've long suspected that there is something being held back in Media Center in Windows Vista, and it...

Tales of Windows Media Center Program Management : Dave - where did you go?

Relationship Compatibility — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:31:37 GMT

I admit it - I'm a lame blogger. Seriously. I wonder if anyone will even read this. How long has it been? Almost six months. All I can say is sorry. I'm still in eHome. I'm still alive. No I wasn't taken out by an exploding battery. I'm still working

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