As momentum grows around its new Windows Home Server line, which is due for release towards the end of this year, Microsoft is looking to keep the love flowing with its hardware partners, software developers and end users alike.

Joel Sider, Senior Program Manager for Windows Home Server, told APC that the company intends to release a software development kit (SDK) for the platform early next month.

While already available to OEMs such as HP, which was the first to sign up to produce a Windows Home Server system, making the SDK available to all third-party developers should result in a wide range of add-on programs ranging from free utilities to commercial applications.

"One of the exciting things about home server is that it's Windows Server, it's an application platform, so we're expecting to see a lot of third-party applications" says Sider. "When we release the SDK and post the documentation on MSDN we'll be giving developers the means to start building Windows Home Server applications.

"This could include centralised family schedule management, or maybe some syncing capabilities so as you record your favourite TV shows on your media centre they're automatically going onto Home Server in a very easy hands-off way. You could also think about webcams and security applications".

As with Windows Server itself, Microsoft's focus would remain on adding "features and core functionality to the home server itself" says Sider, although he suggested that it would make sense for the platform to "work with the Live services we already have out there, (we could) make it really easy to take your content from Home Server and post to a blog".

Full Story At Source