We welcome your feedback on the transition! Please use this thread to discuss...

Thanks!
Daniel

Interested to here everyones feedback!

I'm one of the individuals at Microsoft that led the charge to get eHome more involved in TheGreenButton.  I'm part of the eHome Core Services Infrastructure (CSI) team, and we own the server infrastructure that processes and distributes metadata downloads for EPG, Online Media, Internet TV, Sports, Start Menu, etc.  You might recognize CSI as the CSI:SE (Sustained Engineering) team that participates in the "Ask Microsoft" forums for EPG and Online Services.

I've been aware of the TGB Community for years, and I've been around as a registered user for a little over a year (mainly reading).  One of the things I love about this community is the open, honest, and respectful way that users voice their joys, frustrations, and hopes for Windows Media Center.  I share your passion, and I believe we can work together and leverage this as an opportunity to improve communication between eHome and the TGB Community.  This website is the foundation for that work.

Daniel's mail says it all (most importantly that you'll hardly notice any changes).  We'll be posting updates over the next several months regarding the Community Server upgrade, Data Quality Submission form, migration to new hardware, etc.  Until then, I look forward to exciting new opportunities and lots of continued success.  I'm happy to be part of this amazing community.

I for one say congratulations to the staff of the Green Button.  I would not have the setup I have today if it was not for my friends here.  I think having official Microsoft support can only make the site better.  Microsoft has shown time and again (Xbox, Zune) their commitment to community.  I look forward to the possibilities.

Thanks,
   Andres E.

Hope someone made some money for all the time setting this great community up. They deserve it.

Ultimately this still means Microsoft won't listen I am afraid :)

Hopefully this quells much of the speculation regarding Microsoft’s commitment to Media Center.  I find it very hard to believe that Microsoft would make such an acquisition without being very sincere about developing and improving the product.  I see only great things to come.

 

Please Microsoft, please...don't prove me a liar :)

I find it interesting that MS is snapping up "Knowledge" and "add-in" sites related to both MCE and WHS. Not too long ago they acquired WebGuide and promised to improve integration with WHS. I really hope that they are positioning themselves to more thouroughly integrate the two systems together to create a seamless home and web integration experience.

Here's to better things in the future!!!

Steinway

Hi Chris do you think you should combine the two posts? 
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/269823.aspx

I must also give congratulations to the Green Button administrators. You have built a great site, and I hope it continues that way.
My feelings are mixed. On one hand, I hate to see a great site like this get gobbled up by a corporation, because corporations are only interested in making money $$$. And don't lie to yourselves, they are. They have shareholders in mind. On the other I think having some support from personnel imbeded with the program can assist in getting some lingering issues fixed, like the recording issues. And hopefully  some additional feature that we have all been needing for a long time may get in the next version.
So let's hope for the best.

i'm a firm believer that this can only be for the better. And i think we can all use a UI facelift, eh? :-)

are you guys wanting feedback on what should be changed here yet?  (just wondering or should i save it for a later thread since it sounds like upgrades are still a ways off)

and i am excited to have a more direct route to ms media center folks.

I'll be hanging around the forums listening to feedback and answering questions, so you can feel free to post suggestions here, start a new thread (if appropriate), or even send me a private message.  All feedback is welcome.

 

I have mixed feelings about this.
On one hand I hope that as a result, we will see better results in media center improvements and see them more quickly.

On the other hand, I would hate to see discussions Microsoft sees negative to the success of media center or against some obscure privacy policy or user agreement, ie "hacks", tweaks or workarounds we've developed over the years, get deleted or banned from the forum. Or worse, the loop holes are closed and many of the things we've modified become null and void.

In my experience, any web forum owned by the company that created the application in discussion, is usually worthless. Posts are always moderated and anything they don't want posted, doesn't get posted. That would be very unfortunate.

I'm willing to bet the owner of TGB was given an offer from Microsoft they couldn't refuse. Not knowing, or not caring that as a result the site could be rendered worthless.

Don't be surprised if this post itself is later deleted.

You do not need to worry about MSFT censorship of forum content/discussions.  We will put a new terms of service in place when we migrate the site to the MSFT data center.  The terms of service will be very clear – there will be no changes to moderation policies and the Windows Media Center team has no intention of changing the community nor restricting the open communication as it exists today. The current moderators will stay on board, and Daniel, the original site owner, will continue to be heavily involved and closely oversee the transition. Many of our own employees are frequent contributors to the site today, and we all agree that open discussion will only make our product better.

Powell14ski,

I hope we can prove you wrong. I assure you that this decision was not made for financial reasons.

Daniel