If you haven’t already, please review this post about our Clubhouse Survey and take a moment to share your thoughts with us.  With your input, we look forward to planning and building an even better Clubhouse for our Windows Community.  If you’ve already filled out the survey, thank you!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

As Windows community members, you all have shared some great how-to tips and stories about Windows in the past several months.  You’ve helped a lot of people understand more about what they can do with Windows Live, Windows 7, and most recently Windows 7 and Windows Home Server. 

Now, I’d like to ask you to help the biggest community of all – planet Earth – by sharing your tips on how to “go green” with your PC.  You can read more about this Clubhouse Challenge on the Clubhouse site.  If you’re not already a member of the Clubhouse, this would be a great chance to join. 

Thanks for all you do, and especially thanks in advance for your tips on how we can all have less impact on our environment, save energy, and make the Windows PC experience greener.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

As we embark on our second year of the Clubhouse, we’re going to continue to make sure the site and the broader Windows community continues to be all about you.  To make sure we’re doing what you want, we’d appreciate a moment of your time to fill out our first ever Clubhouse Survey located here. How do you use the Clubhouse today?  What do you want to see next?  We have a few ideas of our own, but what we care most about is what you think.  The survey is only up and running through September 22, so please visit soon.

Thank you very much for your help in building a better Clubhouse and a more vibrant Windows community!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

As members of the Windows community, you’re some of the most passionate experts in the world about Windows.  I know you’re all as excited as I am about the upcoming launch of Windows 7.  Here’s your chance to be a part of it!  You can apply now to host your very own Windows 7 launch party.  By hosting your own party, you can share your expertise directly with your friends and family, just like you share it on-line with thousands of people.

I hope you’ll take time to apply and I’ll look forward to hearing all about your parties!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Guess who’s joining the Clubhouse?  Welcome Windows Home Server! 

We’re excited to build an addition to our Clubhouse for another great member of the Windows product line.  If you haven’t checked out Windows Home Server, it’s well worth perusing their website or checking out a system at one of your local retailers. 

Once you get one (or if you already have one), you can start sharing your how-to tips and stories about using Windows Home Server right here inside the Clubhouse.  After we get a few contributions from all of you, the Windows Home Server team will start showcasing it on their website. 

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

With summer vacations drawing to a close, you’ve probably got a ton of pictures and videos, right?  Have you tried using the new Windows Live Movie Maker to turn them into a video to share with friends and family?  What have you learned along the way?

Our Windows community has a new challenge for the new version of Movie Maker.  Check it out at the Clubhouse by clicking on the Challenges link after signing in. 

If you’re not already a member of the Clubhouse, we’d by thrilled to have you join our community.  You can learn more and apply to join at http://clubhouse.microsoft.com/join. 

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Do you live in the greater New York City area?  If so, please leave me a comment below and I’ll follow up with you privately about some local Windows events coming up soon in your area.

Thanks!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

We’ve tallied up the votes from the recent Clubhouse Choice Awards, and…(insert drum-roll here)…the winners are:

• Best Technical Direction:  Andre
• Best Story:  Michael
• Best Tip or Trick:  Vasudev
• Outstanding Art Direction:  Technogran
• Early Adopter:  Richard H.
• Rising Star: Ali
• Clubhouse All-Star:  Jamie

Click on the names above to read the winning post or check out the profile of the winner.  Congratulations to everyone above and to all the nominees!  We’ll be sending out prizes to everyone over the next few weeks.

Have a great weekend and thank you for building a great Windows community!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

If you haven’t already, check out the Clubhouse Choice Awards and cast your vote before the polls close on July 31st.  There are some very close races!

Congratulations again to all the nominees.  We look forward to tallying up the votes and announcing the winners in early August.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Click here for the Official Rules
Open only to Clubhouse community members who have been invited to participate. Game ends 7/31/2009.  Winners will be announced in August 2009.

Lights! Camera! AWARDS!

We're celebrating the one year anniversary of The Clubhouse and rolling out the red carpet for our brightest stars with the first-ever Clubhouse Choice Awards.

Who’s On Our “A” List?

Seven categories. Three nominees each. We've helped narrow the field by selecting some of the best Clubhouse contributions in each category based on ratings, views and comments. Nominees are presented in the following categories:

But now it's up to you. See who is in the spotlight, cast your vote and spread the word to your friends so they can vote, too. Help us recognize the best of the best! We’ll award some cool prizes to the top vote getters.

Your Clubhouse. Your Choice.

Don’t wait! Voting ends July 31, 2009.

Congratulations to all the nominees, and thank you to each and every one of you that makes the Windows community such a great place to be!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Click here for the Official Rules
Open only to Clubhouse community members who have been invited to participate. Game ends 7/31/2009.  Winners will be announced in August 2009.

The Windows community is searching for the best videos about Windows 7!  We’ll find ‘em, blog about ‘em, and share ‘em!

If you’re already a member of the Clubhouse, you can find out more about the challenge by signing in and checking out the Challenges area of the site.

Interested in joining the community?  We’d be happy to welcome you.  Just check out http://clubhouse.microsoft.com/join for more details.

Happy hunting!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

It’s hard to believe the year is half over.  I guess time does indeed fly when you’re having fun! 

Before time slips by too much faster, I wanted to let you all know about some of the things that have been happening in the Windows Community to help everyone see just how incredible you all are and what amazing contributions you’re making to Windows.

Just a few days ago, we launched a new Communities web page for all of Windows, part of which is shown below:

I’m really excited about this as it gives us another place to show off all of your great tips and stories!  Plus this site lets people know about some of the other Windows communities they can get involved in, like Answers, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. We’re looking forward to turning up the volume of traffic to this site.

Another new part of the Windows website is the new Exploring Windows area.  These new pages feature a lot of your community posts too.  Check out this example featuring our very own DocExtreme and Ludwig:

One other place you’ll see your stuff is on the @MSWindows and @windowslive twitter accounts.  We’re tweeting about all the cool stuff you’re sharing all the time.  If you’re on twitter, please follow those accounts and let us know what you think.  Oh, and leave me a comment below with your twitter “handle” so I can put it on anything I tweet out about you and your great posts.

Lots going on and lots more to come.  Thank you for being part of our community and have a wonderful summer!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Our Windows social media team has a cool program with ReverbNation that we kicked off earlier today.  You can get over 1,000 songs for absolutely free!  Check it out at http://www.myspace.com/windows. 

We hope you enjoy the music!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

When I heard that Windows Live Messenger is celebrating it’s tenth birthday, I couldn’t believe it.  Part of me can’t even remember a time before Messenger.  Another part of me feels like Messenger seems brand new, especially with all the changes in the latest release.

Our Windows community is sharing Messenger memories in the Clubhouse. Check out what the community has to say and then add your own voice.  We’d all love to hear about your favorite Messenger moments. 

Happy birthday, buddies!

Marcus, Windows Community Manager

I’m a few days behind on this, but welcome to June!

We’ve got a lot planned in our Windows community this month, including some new challenges including a special one about Dads & Grads.  We’re also planning some new websites that showcase all of your great community contributions as well as working to make the Clubhouse an even better place to share your best Windows stories and how-to tips. 

It’s been amazing to see everyone’s posts about Windows 7.  Your expertise and knowledge shows through in every post and is really helping others understand more about Windows.

Have a great June and as always, thanks for being part of our Windows Community.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

One of the ways we get to know each other in the Windows community is by responding to challenges.  Our most recent challenge is sure to show off some of the individuality among community members as we’re asking everyone to show off their Windows 7 desktop.  I can’t wait to see what sorts of gadgets people use and how they are using the new taskbar. 

If you’re already a member of the community, just visit the Clubhouse site for more details on this new challenge.  If you haven’t joined our community yet, we’d be happy to welcome you!  Just check out http://clubhouse.microsoft.com/join for more details.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Here are some of the newest faces in the Windows community.  Click on their profile pictures to jump into the Clubhouse and see their full profile and some of their great contributions!

Here in the US, we informally start our summer season with the three-day Memorial Day holiday that just concluded.  Normally in the Seattle area where I live, it’s still a cloudy and rainy time, but this past weekend was anything but that!  The sunny and warm weather has me looking forward to the summer ahead.

So keeping in the spirit of the summer season, I’ve added a new summer-themed challenge to the Clubhouse site.  I hope you’ll take a few moments to post, tag, and share your summer plans with the rest of the Windows community.

If you’re not yet a member of our community, just check out http://clubhouse.microsoft.com/join for more information.

Have a great summer!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

There are a couple new challenges up on the Clubhouse.  One was suggested by our very own Technogran, and it’s all about the one application you couldn’t imagine not having on your PC.  Another one is all about the new web activities recently added to Windows Live profiles. 

When you have some time, please check them out and share your thoughts by tagging your blog posts to come into the Clubhouse.  The rest of our community can learn from you!  If you’re not already a member of the Clubhouse, joining is quick and easy at http://clubhouse.microsoft.com/join.  We hope to see you there soon.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Have you checked out the new Windows 7 page?  You’ll see one of our very own Clubhouse members featured right there:

How about the Windows Media Center page?  You’ll see a Clubhouse member there too:

We’re continuing to feature the best contributions from our Windows community(as decided upon by the Windows community – that’s why ratings are so important) in all sorts of new places.  We’ll be rotating through top-rated posts on these sites and others over the months ahead. 

Everyone really likes the how-to tips and stories coming from community members just like you.  Thanks very much for sharing your expertise with the world and being a part of our community.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager