Dashboard update coming in November?

Microsoft is about a month and a half away from releasing an update to its Xbox Live experience, which will add a bunch of new partner apps from the likes of Comcast, Verizon and HBO, among others. But the code that those apps will run on, which is based on a modified version of its Silverlight development framework, is still being modified in the run-up to release.

We’ve confirmed that the apps expected to be added with the next major update to Xbox Live will be based on Silverlight — at least to a point. The framework they’re being built on is code-named Lakeview, which is essentially a prettied up version of Silverlight with new features like Xbox Kinect’s voice recognition and gesture control. Surprisingly enough, partners are not using Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming for video delivery but have chosen to use H.264-encoded video with Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) instead.

Microsoft is targeting a Black Friday release of the Xbox Live update, according to sources, which would add the new video apps and features like Bing universal search. That could help build demand for Xbox sales over the holidays and will give existing Xbox Live members cool new toys to play with on their day off after Thanksgiving. The Lakeview code is still being modified, however, as Microsoft is still issuing weekly updates to the application framework.

It’s not just little things that are changing in the code, either. Sources say Microsoft has made fundamental additions and subtractions to Lakeview’s capabilities over the past several weeks, causing partners to update and retest their apps with each new release. The goal is to quickly mature the platform, with the potential of enabling other third-party developers to eventually use the Lakeview framework to build their own apps for the Xbox 360 console.

That could be one reason that Microsoft has remained mum on its implementation of Silverlight on the Xbox. We reached out to both the Silverlight and Xbox PR teams but were told that the company “has nothing to announce” about the development framework’s being used for its game console.

With the update more than a month away, there’s still some time for Microsoft to finalize a stable version of the Lakeview code and for its content partners to complete their apps. But with more than 40 content providers signed up to release apps at launch, Microsoft could be in a race against time to get things set and ready for the holidays.

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You can now register to be a tester for the new dashboard update here.

Markav wrote:You can now register to be a tester for the new dashboard update here.

I signed up for this so hope that i get in.

And for those that are wondering you can still have partys with old dashboards users unlike last time (what a balls up that was)

it dosn't give me any option to sign up???

EDIT: sorted now survey finally came up

I just signed up, thought I better as I have been a member of every preview program to date

I've signed up, but I did notice that we're not allowed to speak about the update on here. So remember the first rule of Xbox Dashboard is we don't talk about dashboard update!

i seem to be a member of the beta programme - can sign into the secret forum - nothing happening yet though

For those who signed up for the beta program you need to head here to begin the next step of the program. Simply click product key, then request new product key, boot up your xbox and redeem the code (they recommend doing this through the Xbox and not Xbox.com) then once downloaded boot up the app and voila in about 1-2 business days you'll start to receive the new updates!!

All sorted- my update page says you can tell people you have the new dashboard as long as you don't talk about the new dashboard

I've just got the new dashboard update. I can't go into specifics but it's certainly different and has some funky new features. But I'm not allowed to say anything so you'll have to wait and see.

Yeah I need to sort mine out this evening too

sweeeet so i have the new dashboard to look forward to later on then, its about time been waiting a few weeks now

and BTW they have until decemebr 20th to release it to the public as thats the last day of fall

i dnt think that i got accepted this time

stubbymite wrote:i dnt think that i got accepted this time

If you scroll up I posted about how to get the next stage of the update activated have you tried that yet?

Tenlo wrote:

stubbymite wrote:i dnt think that i got accepted this time

If you scroll up I posted about how to get the next stage of the update activated have you tried that yet?

yeah followed the website and nothing weird really

So you redeemed the code on your Xbox. You'll know if you have as a pre-release channel appears on the dashboard

I kinda like it so far. Kinect voice intergration seems alot better. But Bing doesn't seem to wanna work for me :/

I havent had a chance to test that out yet, I'll try that this evening once the kids have gone to bed methinks!

Made the mistake of setting up beacons, now I get a notification everytime starts playing Gears. Which is a lot

Aye I did that they can be deactivated from the guide menu though

Edit: Just found Cloud Storage is up now too!