On Wednesday, September 26th at an event on Microsoft campus, a group of judges including industry experts and Microsoft executives selected the winners of the Code2Fame Challenge. Using the Windows Server and Windows Home Server software development kits, contestants created impressive software Add-Ins that expand the capabilities and benefits of Windows Home Server and demonstrate how Home Server provides a robust platform that offers ISV and OEM partners the opportunity to build new solutions and products for the home. After the top-three finalists showcased demos of their entries to an audience of Home Server experts and enthusiasts including guest judges Ed Bott from ZDNet’s Microsoft Report, Paul Thurrott from Supersite for Windows, and Rob Enderle from the Enderle Group, the winning entries were determined and are as follows. Cash prizes of $10,000, $5,000 and $1,000 were also awarded to the first, second and third place winners respectively. First prize: Andrew Grant for WhiistWhiist is a very cool (and free) Add-In that allows users to easily host web pages and photo albums on Windows Home Server. With Whiist it’s a snap make an Office document – or anything that can publish to HTML – into a web page on your homeserver.com site. Simply drag photos into a folder and you can post albums of thumbnails to share with friends and family. Second prize: David Wright for Jungle DiskJungle Disk provides inexpensive online backup and storage of Home Server content, using Amazon’s S3 infrastructure. This is a really nice solution for “personal disaster recovery” and assured protection of your most important content. It will be available for purchase this fall. Third prize: Prakash Gautam for Community Feeds for Windows Home ServerThis free Add-In pulls text, audio or video down to Home Server via RSS, so it’s viewable from an Xbox or any Windows Media Connect device. Very interesting possibilities here for creating personalized media libraries, accessible to the whole family at home or away.Well done guys – great job, and keep up the good work!
