Windows Media Center Plug-In Wish List

If I have my numbers correct it has been about 3 years since the first release of Windows Media Center Edition. Scanning the list of available plug-ins, I figure there are about 25 available plug-ins for MCE 2005. So where are all of the plug-ins? Meedio just announced their 200th plug-in. New plug-ins for Tivo are being announced daily.

I think Microsoft is in a tough position with Media Center because they feel they can’t add too much onto it because they will probably get sued so they have to rely on third-party developers. Developers like to get paid so Microsoft has to build up a customer base and strong demand first. So now we are left with non-commercial developers. And that’s the key for Microsoft – get people jazzed up about Media Center so they start writing plug-ins for it for free, more and more people start to use these plug-ins, and eventually the plug-ins sell the software. So here’s some plug-ins I would like to see:

• When running a dual setup of a monitor and TV with MCE on the TV, let the remote only run the TV and the mouse only run the computer. This way MCE is almost a separate application on the TV and you can still use the mouse on the computer.
• A web browser. I still can’t believe that there is not a way in MCE to launch a web browser.
• An external launch button. The old MyHTPC software had a great plug-in where you could create a button and it would launch any external program you wanted all inside of the Media Center application.
• A VOIP solution. I have a Vonage VOIP phone and would love to integrate it with MCE (beyond caller id) What about Skype? Wouldn’t it be cool to call people from within MCE say while you’re watching a show?
• An internet radio recorder. There are a lot of external applications that can do this, but this should be easy to integrate with MCE. Let me setup internet radio recordings.
• Gmail interface. Someone has a Hotmail plug-in that I couldn’t get to work, but what about Gmail?
• A basic calendar. There is an outlook plug-in out now, but what about a basic calendar?
• Community feedback for TV shows. How about allowing people to leave feedback/reviews of favorite TV shows so we can see what people like/dislike? Netflix has a popular feature where you can see what your friends recommend.
• Auto discovery of podcasts. It would be nice to add a podcast channel along with Radio.
• Minimize media center to the system tray.
• Support for Sirius Satellite radio.
• Add the radio-only digital cable stations to MCE radio list or playlist.