Integrators Get Unique Opportunity to Influence Windows 7 Media Center

Microsoft wants integrator feedback on Media Center for Windows 7. CE pros have a unique opportunity to influence some of the features in the next operating system – something that Microsoft has never done before.

In conjunction with the Media Center Integrator Alliance (MCIA), Microsoft is extending a private invitation to MCIA members to participate in an exclusive Win 7 beta program focused on Media Center.

"This is an entirely different program than the public Windows 7 beta," says a Microsoft spokesperson. "Inclusion in this private beta will allow Microsoft to provide an additional level of scrutiny to the particular issues that you are seeing that are related to the custom installation channel."

In other words, your opinion will matter.

Ordinarily Microsoft, like other mass-market product developers, prioritizes bug and feature requests by the sheer volume of mentions by the beta testers.

You can imagine that general OS issues will dominate the request list, much more so than Windows Media Center.

Integrators who really care about Media Center will get their opinions heard, according to Microsoft and the MCIA. That is no guarantee that your wish lists will be adopted in the final product, but the Media Center team will try its darndest.

MCIA members log their reports into a tracking system that identifies them as MCIA participants, and Microsoft will consider separately the "unique needs that a general Windows 7 Media Center customer would not experience," according to the company.

The MCIA recognizes that "installers design complex Media Center solutions," says Kevin Collins, chairman of MCIA and director of the custom installer channel in the Connected TV, Entertainment and Devices division at Microsoft.

As an advocate for the channel, MCIA will "provide a heightened awareness" of integrator issues within Microsoft, he says.

In addition to influencing Window 7 Media Center, participants will gain access to newsgroups and documentation that are not necessarily available to the general beta testing population.

FEB. 6 DEADLINE: Because of the tight timeframe, integrators must join MCIA and submit their bug reports and feature requests by February 6. So you better hurry!

The Media Center Integrator Alliance was launched in September 2008 to share best practices, establish standards, and develop education and certification tools that will further the Media Center cause.

The MCIA is sponsoring a two-day Media Center University (MCU) at EHX Spring, March 11-14, Orlando, Fla.

MCU takes place March 11 and 12.

More Info: Media Center Integrator Alliance