A New Role on Media Cener
A quick update. I've made a small update ot the title. I've switched form the Project Management team to a Program Manager. What does that mean within Microsoft?
Well simply enough a Project Manager at Microsoft looks across the entire project. A Project Manager would worry about making sure everyone gets their work done. Writes their specs, hits coding milestones, tests, etc. The ownership is at a very high level.
As a Program Manager you spend your time getting very specific about features of a products or delivarbles. I've joined what we call our "Platform Team." This team is responsible for making Media Center something extensible and ensuring that we have a usable and worthwhile development platform. I'll be on the same team as Aaron Stebner and working closely with Charlie Owen and Micahel Creasy.
Specifically I will be owning Online Spotlight, The Media Center SDK, and a couple of other things I can't quite talk about yet - but hope to talk about very soon.
I really excited about this change. I very interested in getting our development community excited about Media Center (including hobbyists and casual developers). I think there are also a lot of opportunities in Online Spotlight to do some very cool things - things I hope to speak about here.
To celebrate my change I have nine Windows Live Messenger invites that are up for grabs. All you have to do is tell me what you'd like to see out of Media Center community efforts in the comments. I'll take honest feedback. Sarcastic comments might get you a laugh but not a Messenger invite. :)
Note: If you want the invites you need to send me your email address or have a linked address on your log-in. Can't send one over if you don't tell me how to get in touch with you. :)
Comments
Anonymous
January 29, 2006
The difference really depends on the group.Anonymous
January 29, 2006
While the difference could depend upon group there really is a differentiation between job focus. Normally you are either one or the other type of Program Manager.Anonymous
January 29, 2006
I would like to see a transparent process for how things get to spotlight :).
Interesting, where I work the meanings for program and project manager are completely flipped. Projects fit into programs, so the program manager has the over arching responsibilities.
-GriffonAnonymous
January 29, 2006
I'd like to see a little more uniformity in the interfaces in the various services on the spotlight. Maybe some guidelines to the various partners. Some of the services in the Online Spotlight are ridiculously cluttered and hard to figure out. (I'm thinking especially of the MTV and VH1 services.) After working in the nice interfaces of the rest of Media Center, it's jarring to stumble into an area where nothing seems to make sense. Also, the VH1 service is the only thing I've used in Media Center that actually managed to crash my machine.
Hopefully, that's somewhat in the scope of what you were looking for...Anonymous
January 29, 2006
In addition to talking about the features and functionality we'd like to see in Media Centre, a discussion group should focus on the dialog. It's time we started seriously discussing the problems associated with online media. Specifically, lack of openness and incompatible DRM systems are serious problems that confuse and frustrate users.
Example: My wife is an avid Mac user who loves iTunes. She was shocked to find out that she couldn't burn an MP3 CD from the music she downloaded from iTunes. "Don't I own this music?" she asked.
I've purchased music from some of Microsoft's partners before and now every time I try to listen to it I get prompted for a license. Sure I should have backed up my license folder, but give me a break, when I insert a CD in my drive, I don't get prompted for a license. If I did, I wouldn't buy CD's either. As it stands, I won't purchase content online until this problem gets resolved.
The concept of information anytime, anywhere, on any device should begin with the media we use online.
Solve the above problem and you're guaranteed to drive traffic to Online spotlight. In fact, it should be a gate to Online Spotlight. ie. If you meet the bar in terms of adhering to an open DRM standard, supporting most, if not ALL devices, then you're in. Otherwise, go talk to Apple, see if they're willing to open their platform. <grin>
BTW: It would be helpful if Microsoft were to adhere to standards as well. MP3, WMA? Beta, VHS ring a bell? Who cares which one's technically superior, pick one and move on, it makes everyone's life easier, especially my Grandma's.
There you go, let's have a dialog.Anonymous
January 29, 2006
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January 30, 2006
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January 31, 2006
I think content providers and brands should be able to build additional content around their programming. Instead of tuning into abc to watch the rosebowl I should be able to tune in to USC or Texas media center tv channel such that as the game goes on I can do stuff like stream in the latest pics and other interesting content like accessing Player stats, web cams, order merchandise etc.
My email is tj@gx-5.com. I would love to have the windows live messenger inviteAnonymous
February 01, 2006
Thanks all for the great feedback.
One thing that caught my eye was the dialog that you were looking for in general. Would a chat or something work for you guys? Something where we could get online and tell us about the things you like or don't like - and spend some time telling us about issues or anything you like to go over.Anonymous
February 02, 2006
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February 03, 2006
I think a chat would be a great idea. Something more 'realtime' than blog comments would be cool.Anonymous
February 04, 2006
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February 08, 2006
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February 08, 2006
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