This is the most exciting week at InfoWorld since we launched our Save Windows XP campaign at the beginning of the year. Today, I'm happy to announce the beta version of InfoWorld Windows Sentinel, a joint project with the exo.performance.network founded by InfoWorld Contributing Editor Randall C. Kennedy.

Basically, we're offering you a free downloadable monitoring agent to check the system performance of as many as three Windows computers. The agent samples performance data once per minute and uploads it to the exo.performance.network, which bounces it back to you on a personal Web page -- or in little widgets that you can download for your desktop or mobile devices (you'll need to download Adobe AIR to run them). We don't intend to compete with professional tools here, although you'll find some advanced threshold settings and cool e-mail alert functions.

The ultimate value of this project will be the vast pool of Windows performance data we gather. Randall has already made his first post to the new Windows Sentinel blog, where he will provide ongoing analysis. (Note: The data will be anonymized; we will never attach individual system performance info to any participant's account.)

According to Randall, the main point is "to develop a more concise picture of the Windows computing landscape. We hope to create a dynamic, real-time image of Windows-based system performance and behavior, and to mine that data stream for common threads of knowledge and information which we can then share with our readers." In other words, here's one instance where community can yield real value you simply can't get any other way.

So I invite you to help us build that community and download InfoWorld Windows Sentinel. If all goes as planned, the result will be a mother lode of information about optimizing Windows systems. In the bargain you'll get a fun, surprisingly useful tool. In fact, I've already used it to convince InfoWorld's system administrator to upgrade my laptop.

Posted by Eric Knorr on April 15, 2008 03:00 AM