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If you would love a chance to be in a private beta if an Addin that I am working on for WHS please stay tuned as I will be allow some members of HomServerLand to test it before release. So I you have yet to setup an account on HomeServerLand go now and sign up. More details will be released at a later time.

If you head over to HomeServerLand.com you can be the first to try out new betas from Kentdome such as GirdBurn (a DVD/CD burning addin) places are limited so sign up fast. Also there are more things to do over at HomeServerLand such as a great forum and prizes to win every so often.

We are happy to announce the availability of limited Kentdome beta slots.

The Kentdome Beta Program is valuable because “real world” users (you) may find bugs that are difficult or impossible to locate in a development environment. Furthermore, it creates a way to contribute directly with a lot of hands on: help improve existing or add new product features and be a key player when we create new add-ins from scratch!

What does that mean? It means that this is not the usual shout-out for some brave souls to passively download software; instead we are looking for a limited number of active individuals (max 10 people) who are excited about the program and are willing to provide useful feedback and participation throughout the entire period. Technical expertise is not a requirement to participate in the beta program and there are some perks to entice you.

Admission to the Kentdome beta group will be based on correlation to our beta requirements.

How to make the cut? Simple – leave a comment below with your WHS hardware configuration and please answer:

Does your WHS have an internal or external CD/DVD burner?
Does your WHS have an internal or external POTS or VoIP telephony device?
Do you have a UPS? (Make, model #, interface (USB, RS232))
Why do you want to participate?
Thank you

If you have a WHS and have a lot of CD’s and DVD’s then AVA Media is one add in product that you could use, it is a paid option but with the paid option you don’t have to jump through hops to unlock features with the MyMovies which is what AVA is a modified version of.  I done some calculating and if you donate to the creator of MyMovies you would pay the same or a bit more then AVA Media.

If you wish to have a read of the review head over to http://www.homeserverland.com/blogs/hslblog/archive/2009/04/28/ava-media-v1-5-0-1-add-in-evaluation.aspx.

I will upload my review of AVA Media soon.

There are a number of services that you can run on WHS that are supported and others that are not.  There are more, not mainstream services that you can run.  However any Windows XP compatible software can be installed and run as a service by using the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9D467A69-57FF-4AE7-96EE-B18C4790CFFD&displaylang=en).  And using the addin Any Service Installer to be able to install the program as a service easier.  Some of the below services such as UTorrent need manual install as a service.

Kentdome Technologies that have made the Windows Home Server add-ins:-

1. Vista Caller-ID
2. Grid Junction
3. Remote Alert

Have a new beta of their Remote Alert addin, more information on it can be found at http://www.homeserverland.com/forums/t/93.aspx, all you do is sign up and then request to beta test it.

I have been testing it out on my server and I must say it has some great features that will be good for most owners of WHS.