The Connected Home Blog

We have been hearing for the last couple of weeks from dedicated Windows Home Server sites that an update for WHS was due this Tuesday. More details of what this has to offer can be found at Philip Churchill’s blog and a guide to overcome the network critical warning which will occur after the update can be found on the WHS Team Blog.

I’ve just installed the update myself and everything seems to have gone smoothly.

Fingers crossed this resolves some of the few remaining bugs with WHS around the duplication and backup of files. The major improvement however will be with the remote access site no longer giving SSL certificate security alerts. News on how Microsoft have achieved this with the help of GoDaddy available from Philip Churchill’s MS WHS blog.

Matt S

A selection of beta testers in the Microsoft Community have been invited to participate in the beta of Live Messenger 9.0. Not sure at present if this is open to everyone to apply to or if an invitation is required even to apply.

My application was filed today although this is not to say that i will be accepted. My status is currently down as ‘pending’.

Look forward to seeing if I get accepted and what the new version has to offer.

More soon if I’m allowed to share.

Matt S

It seems that at midnight tonight (GMT) something big is about to happen in the world of the connected home. Or three things as it seems.

• The first full release of the Windows Live Suite is due to go live as reported yesterday
• @live.com domains are due to become available to register for use with Hotmail and Live ID services, not sure in which geographical regions, but it is likely to be only US for now
• The beta of Windows Live Calendar should become openly available

Each of these three developments are great for the prospect of a truly connected home, available to the average user and the modern family living a life filled with digital media.

The services becoming available with the new Windows Live releases will enable users to access there online worlds and share their digital information and media more easily. This will be improved further when the full release of Live Calendar becomes available, but for now the new beta is a good step in the right direction. The @live.com domain adds the least to the connected home, but will allow users to begin to use a more meaningful domain for their Live IDs. Whilst the traditional Hotmail, MSN or even personal domains fulfil this need, a proper Live.com domain for a Live ID feels neater and more meaningful.

All a positive move towards the connected digital home.

Matt S

Microsoft have got a great little site running at https://www.countdowntobetter.com/ which shows a countdown to the full release of the Windows Live Suite of products including Writer, Mail, Photo Gallery, Family Safety and the online Sky Drive service.

This site manages to explain all of the things we are looking for.

I like it.

Matt S

We have now seen numerous reports that Live Calendar is a reality and available at http://calendar.live.com, but not for everyone it seems. Perhaps a soft launch is underway to make sure that all goes well, with some people able to access the new Live Calendar, whilst others, including me, still get linked to Hotmail or the old MSN Calendar.

More info is available at Liveside.net where there is a initial review from some of the lucky few who can access the beta.

Looks like the rest of us will have to wait for now.

Matt S