In order to help promote your great Media Center development work to consumers, the Media Center group at Microsoft is excited to announce that, starting today, you can upload your finished Media Center application to Windows Marketplace, a comprehensive, easy-to-use shopping and download site that helps Windows customers discover, experience, and purchase partner products and software.

After Microsoft has processed your application, your approved Media Center product will be available for download from CNET’s Download.com and Windows Marketplace.

How to upload your product

1. Prepare your software application.  CNET will test for the following, so be sure you’re ready before you upload your product.
1. Your application must be virus and spyware-free, and must not perform any malicious operation on the customer’s PC.
2. The product page on your website must list “Windows XP Media Center Edition” as a requirement for product installation.
3. The application installer must validate that the user’s PC is running the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system before installing the application.
4. When the application is installed, a tile for the application must appear in More Programs.
5. When the customer clicks on that tile, he or she must be taken to a 10' experience.
6. The customer must be able to navigate your application with the remote control.
7. Your application design must feature large buttons and fonts so that it is readable on a TV screen.
8. Installing the application must not add a link to the top Media Center navigation menu (next to My music, My Pictures, etc.).
9. Your application must function with Media Center Extender.
10. For Web-based applications, the application must have some component that needs to be installed on a Media Center PC (this will not necessarily show up in More Programs).
11. Your application’s text must be in English.
12. You must have the rights to any content used in your application.
13. Certain types of content are prohibited by Microsoft policy
2. Visit Upload.com and create an account.  CNET has a few different listing options: Free listing, Basic ($9USD/mo) or Premium ($99USD/mo).
3. Choose “Windows MCE” as your Operating System, and fill out the rest of the submission form. At this time only English-language applications may be submitted to Windows Marketplace.
4. Submit your application.  CNET will send you mail with confirmation of receipt, and let you know if your application passes their testing requirements.
5. Check your listing.  Give CNET 2-3 weeks’ processing time to verify your application, then visit Download.com and windowsmarketplace.com to make sure your product appears on both sites. Beginning mid-October, the products will also be available on the Media Center consumer website on Microsoft.com.

If you have questions, please email mceapps@microsoft.com.

Thanks for this...

I have already been contacted by MS regarding online spotlight and the marketplace. My mcepeaks does NOT qualify and I do not know off hand any of the 3rd party applications that DO.

Oh well... maybe when I have some free time I will change mcepeaks, possibly V2.0 to be compliant but I dont see any reason to support Microsoft of their efforts to attract developers as they ...

a. Could not give a damn about developers as they do not allow access to the beta versions of the mce

b. They are not willing to let people know what is going to be in the next version that could wipe out all your effort in one swoop.

Maybe MS should think about being more open with the developers and then we may give a sh!t. Maybe acknowledge that this is a community as opposed to just another product.

These are my own views. Views that I have expressed directly to the Online Spotlight team at MS in the UK.

Hoof

_________________________________________________________

Take 10 minutes out to do nothing! -  www.10footgames.net

• *NEW* - mceLights V1.0
• *NEW* - mcePeaks V2.0

Hi guys.  My name is Shelley, and I'm putting together this project at Microsoft.  This is a new thing for us, and your feedback is crucial to making the program succeed.  Keep in mind as we go on that the end goal is to get you more downloads of your application in an environment that is familiar to the average XP consumer.

Let's address a couple of concerns from Hoof first:

1. ISVs go here for the latest information on building for Vista: http://winfx.msdn.microsoft.com/library/

2. Charlie Owen recently posted information about dev tools for Vista, including his PDC slide deck at: http://blog.retrosight.com/PermaLink,guid,016b65e6-3d4d-4ef4-a55a-e1db0b3ec027.aspx

3. Beta1 is available for MSDN Subscribers.  If you are a subscriber, then you should already have access to this information. 

Now on to the Marketplace concerns...

>> c. The application installer must validate that the user’s PC is running the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system before installing the application.some of my installers do not do that, because nearly all my plugins run in IE6 without any MCE. So giving more to the windows customers, i will be blocked out by the program?

--No.  we will make exceptions for applications that also work for other operating systems and browsers.

>> h. Installing the application must not add a link to the top Media Center navigation menu (next to My music, My Pictures, etc.).
the problem with that is: the users want it! i got dozens of mails asking on how to add this entry to the start menu. what speaks against this entry? just let the users have 20 item in the top level if they want to.

--After hundreds of hours of usability studies we discovered having more than 9 items on the Start menu didn't work for consumers -- it's simply too confusing for the vast majority of end users, and the sophisticated user experience is what shines in Media Center and partner applications. 

Realizing this automatically limits the discoverability of third party applications we created entry points (the More With This feature) for partners so they could show up in more places in the context of the experience.  Note that ISVs are more than welcome to add items to the Start menu using the instructions found in the Media Center Customization Options for OEMs section of the SDK, however doing so would preclude them from participating in Microsoft sponsored marketing such as Online Spotlight or Windows Marketplace at this time.

Shelly,

Thank you for answering our questions and views. I have requested information time and time again over the last few years about the beta versions of Media Center and I can tell you that it is not only me who is frustrated by Microsoft's ignorance of the fact that developers would like access to them. Now that "Vista" has been named and that PDC has come and gone and the next version of MCE is included in Vista, Microsoft makes the slightest effort to cuddle up to the developers they have ignored for 3 years! As a professional, I am well aware of the latest information regarding Vista and even Sparkle, but where was Microsoft when MCE 2005 was in Beta?, heck, where was Microsoft when MCE 2004 was in beta?

I know that all this is like water off a duck's back but I just wanted to say it anyway.

Hoof

_________________________________________________________

Take 10 minutes out to do nothing! -  www.10footgames.net

• *NEW* - mceLights V1.0
• *NEW* - mcePeaks V2.0

Shelly:

I will have to agree with Hoof and Christoph here to some extend - I shall also mention that this post can be seen as rather harsh (is that how you spell that?), but it should not be taken personal, I just try to explain things from a developer point of view a bit:

About this program:

- I agree with Scendix on the extenders, why make it impossible to get an extender in Europe? Do you hate europeans?

- We may not add options to the start menu, and as I read it, we may not even have the option to do it. If we remove this option we get flamed by the users! Then it comes down to weather we should listen to Microsoft or to our users?

About Media Center developing in general:

From where I sit, it looks a though Microsoft does all they can to make life hard for the developers of add-on programs, at sometimes I even wonder if Microsoft really would like all developers to just bug-off. Let me give a few examples:

- All beta versions of Media Center has been unavailable to developers, the Media Center beta releases has not been a part of an MSDN subscribtion as all other Microsoft's other beta versions, which means it has been impossible to get to beta's in an official way. The situation is the same for the Rollup 2 update, if we wen't down official paths, for all we knew, our add-ins could stop working by the time the update is released to end-users, and we would get a lot of bad publicity and confused users.

- The Media Center SDK has in all the versions I know about (two as I remember it) been released AFTER or at the same time as the official release of the OS, Rollup or whatever it followed, making it impossible to know what to change and do differently.

- By each release Microsoft seem to remove options without giving alternatives:

* The 2004 SDK had a blue graphics style included, which was removed in the 2005 SDK, but all users wan't an interface that looks exactly like the rest of the SDK, so one would then have to extract content from the ehShell, not knowing if this was even accepted.

* In Media Center 2004, we had add-on programs on the start menu, which the users liked, when 2005 was released, this was replaced and now only two slots were available, stated to be for OEM's only. As the users demanded this (and they do DEMAND it), most developers made this as an OPTION (which is not default). I can follow the situation with too much stuff in the root menu, and the users more or less accepted that they had to choose which two things they wanted in the root menu, but now our programs can't be accepted due to this? Where is our alternative if the program does not fit any of the existing contents, or generally work as an replacement (a poor radio option as an example)?

* It is not an option in the SDK to add items to the right click/more info menu, so many developers made their own right click menu as they wanted the user to have the same functionality in the add-on program as they do in Media Center, however now in Rollup 2, Microsoft forced their menu on this event, which you can't supress (I know I can't). This is done due to security, ok, I can see the point, but where is our alternative to add options to this menu within our own add-in program?

- Some of the most important requirements for add-in developers has not been resolved or added, stuff like a non-transparent SVP, a non-transparent bar in the top and bottom of the screen using the mouse, and stuff like adding an add-in programs' settings to be a button under the Media Center settings page, as it would have been if the program was an internal part of MCE.

Again - I must ask - are you absolutely sure you aren't just doing everything you can to tell us you hate us? If you do, just tell us, and we can find other stuff to do.

I for one decided that Media Center was the way to go, but I have had my doubts on weather it's worth it to continue (and I have had these more than once), at times it would be SO much easier to join the guys on Meedio, MediaPortal or similar projects.

Off cause I think this new program is great, however can you see why we are a wondering why you now seem to care? And why we are unsure if you actually DO care?

Regards,

Brian Binnerup

Hi Brian. We created this program in response to developer and customer feedback. With it, we're creating a way for Media Center ISVs to get their applications in front of potentially millions of consumers. We think it's a great first step, and of course we'll have bumps along the way as we figure out what will work best.

I hope you all consider submitting your applications to Windows Marketplace so that we can show a strong community of products to Media Center consumers. Visit http://www.upload.com to get started so that your product is among the first to be featured when we launch our new website next month.

Quick comments on the two related questions from the previous post:

- The Xbox 360 will function as a Media Center Extender, and will be available in Europe and everywhere else in November

- As I mentioned above, a considerable amount of thought and research went into the number of items in the Start menu. We know some developers will continue to offer that to consumers in their apps, but we won't be able to feature them in Windows Marketplace if they do.

If you have specific questions about Media Center applications on Windows Marketplace, please email mceapps@microsoft.com.

Shelley

_________________________________________________________

Take 10 minutes out to do nothing! -  www.10footgames.net

• *NEW* - mceLights V1.0
• *NEW* - mcePeaks V2.0

Hya.

I have added an update to the thread in the thread in the 3'rd party apps section:

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=130922

Regards,

Brian