I've started a new Open Source project, in the hope that other people are interested in contributing to it.

Installing Media Center addins is a bit of an annoyance. You've got this really pretty Media Center interface, but for people who are trying to use it simply as a home-theatre experience, installing an addin means getting out the keyboard and mouse. Even worse, once you've got the thing installed, if there's an update or a patch for your addins, you've got to leave the Media Center experience to find, download and install them - and User Account Control will be jumping up, which means you can't automate the process from the addin itself.

This is where Addinistrator comes in. It's goal is to perform a number of functions that weren't addressed by the SDK because of it's focus. The SDK is great when it comes to creating your app, but Media Center isn't all that friendly when it comes to deploying and maintaining the app (although Charlie Owen and Aaron Stebner from Microsoft are making excellent improvements to the Media Center SDK applications to make installations much simpler).

Addinistrator will also allow you run-time access to your own Start menu strip (if you have one), meaning that you can re-order and even create new entries on-the-fly to suit your users needs.

Future features may include Start Strip management, a More Programs strip and, most importantly - the ability to browse for and install Media Center applications without the need to leave the Media Center experience.

If you want to contribute, please feel free to visit http://www.codeplex.com/addinistrator