The Ed Bott Report

Ed Bott
Home / News & Blogs / The Ed Bott Report

Microsoft hits a home run with Windows Home Server

By | April 26, 2007, 1:28pm PDT

Almost without exception, the first reaction when people hear that Microsoft is working on Windows Home Server is, "Why would I want that?" After they see it, the first reaction is much simpler: "I want that."

So set aside that first skeptical reaction and take a close look at the image gallery I've assembled showing the most recent beta release of Windows Home Server in action. The April 2007 Community Technical Preview (CTP) was released to the public last week. I've been running it and its previous beta release for more than two months now. In this post, I'll provide a high-level overview of why this new product has such potential for home Windows users who are drowning in digital media and typically unprepared for sudden data loss.

Let's start with a description of what Windows Home Server isn't. It's not a general purpose file/web/application server. It doesn't require high-end hardware (an old P4 with 512MB of RAM plus a Fast Ethernet card will do just fine). You don't need a technical degree to set it up or run it. In hardware terms, it's an appliance (no monitor, keyboard or mouse required, and the smaller the better) designed to plug in to a home network, where it's always on and available for a variety of useful activities. A nontechnical end user should have no problem installing the client software and walking through the simple seven-step setup, after which it requires virtually no ongoing management.

So what does Windows Home Server do?

Next –>

More from “The Ed Bott Report”

Topics

Software, Network, PC, Storage, Backup, Server, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Corp., File, Ed Bott

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications.

Disclosure

Ed Bott

Ed Bott is a freelance technical journalist and book author. All work that Ed does is on a contractual basis.

Since 1994, Ed has written more than 25 books about Microsoft Windows and Office. Along with various co-authors, Ed is completely responsible for the content of the books he writes. As a key part of his contractual relationship with publishers, he gives them permission to print and distribute the content he writes and to pay him a royalty based on the actual sales of those books. Ed's books are currently distributed by Que Publishing (a division of Pearson Education) and by Microsoft Press.

On occasion, Ed accepts consulting assignments. In recent years, he has worked as an expert witness in cases where his experience and knowledge of Microsoft and Microsoft Windows have been useful. In each such case, his compensation is on an hourly basis, and he is hired as a witness, not an advocate.

Ed does not own stock or have any other financial interest in Microsoft or any other software company. He owns 500 shares of stock in EMC Corporation, which was purchased before the company's acquisition of VMWare. In addition, he owns 350 shares of stock in Intel Corporation, purchased more than two years ago. All stocks are held in retirement accounts for long-term growth.

Ed does not accept gifts from companies he covers. All hardware products he writes about are purchased with his own funds or are review units covered under formal loan agreements and are returned after the review is complete.

Biography

Ed Bott

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. He's served as editor of the U.S. edition of PC Computing and managing editor of PC World; both publications had monthly paid circulation in excess of 1 million during his tenure. He is the author of more than 25 books on Microsoft Windows and Office, including the recently released Windows 7 Inside Out.

Talkback Most Recent of 248 Talkback(s)

  • Linux gives you a better server. For free!
    Linux gives you a better server. For free! For example Ubuntu 7.04 server edition: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/products/WhatIsUbuntu/serveredition

    Plus the hardware requirements are dramatically lower. And old Pentium 2 with 192 MB RAM will do.

    Trust Linux on your server: around 80 percent of the world's internet servers run on Linux.....

    Greetz, Pjotr.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    pjotr123
    26th Apr 2007

  • ZDNet Blogger

    Not in the same market as a Linux server
    Automatically back up all my computers? Provide data protection without hardware RAID? Allow me to access my home computer when I'm on the road without having to do anything more than click a button or two?

    You just read the word "server" and posted this, didn't you? You obviously didn't read the post or look at what this product does.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Ed Bott
    26th Apr 2007
  • It pays off!
    My, my. I apparently hit a very sore spot there, given the vehemence of your reaction...... happy

    Of course there is a learning curve involved when you start out with an Ubuntu Linux Home Server. But the curve is steep, and you get excellent free help on the fora.

    It is not as easy as the Windows thing, true. And you possibly might not have all the features. But the effort is well worth it, though. Not only you get it for free, but you can achieve this with much older and weaker hardware, and most importantly: you end up with a much higher degree of security.

    Greetz, Pjotr.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    pjotr123
    26th Apr 2007

  • ZDNet Blogger

    I repeat...
    Not the same market. If you want to install your own Linux server, be my guest. But this product is aimed at people who want an appliance that can be set up and working in 15 minutes.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Ed Bott
    26th Apr 2007
  • Already on the market
    There are already appliances that do this running linux though the user just sees a web interface.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    gtdavies33@...
    26th Apr 2007
  • Seem familiar
    In many ways it's reminiscent of the old Cobalt (later, Sun) Qube.

    Same concept as a 10 year old Linux appliance, with updated functionality and a better price point. Can't hold that against Microsoft... a good idea is good no matter where it came from.

    It didn't sell real well for Sun, but hey, Microsoft is targeting a different market. It seems to me to be a pretty narrow market as well: home users that are tech-savvy enough to appreciate backups, and non-technical enough to need one-click installs, as well as affluent enough to afford the appliance. It remains to be seen whether non-technical home users are really willing to shell out hundreds of dollars to have online backups. Unless there's an iceberg under the water that Ed's not telling us about, that's the only thing new you're getting. All the rest of it -- alerts, file sharing, and remote access -- is available without the server.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    dave.leigh@...
    26th Apr 2007
  • I do believe the average home user is being greatly underestimated here.
    I work in professional environments day to day (hospitals mostly) so granted the people I meet are usually at least college if not university educated people. But most wave a white flag at technology. However in the last several years, even the least likely of these people are doing things at home to emulate what they have at work the best they can. Who hasn't learned to setup a router and do wireless at home now? The huge trend toward laptops makes a difference here too. There is room for a server in most homes. A small device hidden away about anywhere. or in the home office room of the house.

    i just don't get why people, esp. the linux users for whatever the reason (although they are down on every project MS undertakes, so one must consider the source) are saying this is too complicated for home users?? On the contrary. It's what most home users are looking for. And you know, most home users could give a squat about the fact it costs money. They realize they are living in capitalism and accept the way the market works. Free is not inviting to all that many people. They'd rather pay something to feel they have support. Whether the "free" software has great support or not. American's esp. love to be capitalists. There is no sign of a democratic socialist government being tolerated in the U.S. ever. Which means people know that free means subsidized. Which means taxes, which means most know they've been subsidizing the Unix and *nix projects for almost 5 decades now. General users may not alwasy be computer techs...how could professionals in other fields have the knowledge of a Linux geek?? They can't and that's why they appreciate a device like this and also know what makes the world go round.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    xuniL_z
    28th Apr 2007

  • ZDNet Blogger

    Your memory is very fuzzy, I think
    I had a Cobalt Qube server from the days before Sun bought Cobalt Networks. It was a web/e-mail/file server aimed at small businesses that wanted an appliance they could get online with right away.

    Comparing it to WHS is a stretch, to say the least. It's not the "same concept" in my opinion. In fact, I don't think there's any overlap in features except for the fact that they both allow secure access to shared space on a file server based on user accounts.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Ed Bott
    28th Apr 2007
  • Not one bit, Ed.
    Comparing it to WHS is a stretch, to say the least. It's not the "same concept" in my opinion. In fact, I don't think there's any overlap in features except for the fact that they both allow secure access to shared space on a file server based on user accounts.

    The "concept" I'm referring to is a plug-in multipurpose server appliance with minimal configuration. With the Qube it was basically this: set the IP address, plug it in, and log in with a browser. First login becomes the administrator. Keep in mind that the Qube was released in the 1990s. Nearly a decade is more than enough time to allow for implementation of the same concept with different capabilities. As I said in the post to which you responded, the functionality is updated. Given the time span you could expect no less.

    Now, I've already acknowledged (here: http://tinyurl.com/328e7a) that this is a different feature set for a different market. In fact, I said exactly this: When it comes to the feature set, that's purely a judgment call. It all depends on what's important to you. Other server appliances have targeted other markets; while they may not provide exactly the features of WHS, they do supply other features not included here, such as POP and IMAP mail servers, bittorrent download managers, FTP services, calendaring etc. Microsoft have chosen features that they deem important to themselves and their target clientele."

    I see no reason to back off my position at all, as I'm absolutely right. It's simply not possible for a reasonable person to disavow the general similarity of concept within the scope already discussed. The only way to disavow said similarity is to limit the feature set to exactly what WHS provides, which would just be plain silly: EXACTLY as silly as saying that your modern automobile is a completely different concept from a Model T, IMNSHO.

    I was perfectly clear about my context, and since you not only read, but responded to both posts, you knew it. Because I know for a fact that you're not a disingenuous person, but rather a reasonable and intelligent person I respect, I'll put your current criticism down to having a bad day or something. Get some rest.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    dave.leigh@...
    28th Apr 2007

  • ZDNet Blogger

    I went out of my way to be polite
    Sorry you're so easily offended.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Ed Bott
    28th Apr 2007
  • I took no offense.
    nt
    ZDNet Gravatar
    dave.leigh@...
    28th Apr 2007
  • Offense
    Admitted offense or not, you're still being a twat. Leave it be and leave your e-penis at the door when you come to post ok? xox
    ZDNet Gravatar
    neverhadachoice
    29th Apr 2007
  • Neverhadachoice, since you asked...
    ...if it is "ok", I'll just point out that I was perfectly sincere when I told Ed that he was a reasonable and intelligent person I respect. I wasn't being sarcastic or facetious, and I truly think he was in a bad mood when he posted the response. If you want to refer to that as an "e-penis", I'd say you need to get your priorities in order, and maybe practice some improved communication skills.

    As for everything else, I offered an opinion, and I backed it up, which is more than anybody else has done since I stated it. If you haven't been following the conversation, I invite you to go back and read my posts in chronological order. I started out openly skeptical about the product. I asked several specific questions, which Ed directly and factually answered. My subsequent posts indicated that I now think WHS is a well-implemented server appliance. IOW, I'm more than willing to change my opinion in the face of clearly argued opinions and/or facts, and I have demonstrably done so in this Talkback. My main point in the current thread (here:http://tinyurl.com/2orqp4) wasn't even about the similarity of concept (which is obvious); it was that time will tell whether it has sufficient market to make it a success. I hardly think that's arguable, as the product hasn't even been released. It's also my opinion, and I have heard nothing in the way of cogent argument to the contrary, that the concept of a server appliance remains unchanged even if the specific features vary among implementations. That's not so difficult to understand.

    By all means, continue the ad hominem attacks if you like, but that doesn't touch my argument. Have a lovely evening.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    dave.leigh@...
    29th Apr 2007
  • My wager is...
    That if there's any uptake on this at all there will be an open source and Linux version of this within a year.

    All the parts are there so I bet someone will do it.

    Now, if you have one computer acting as appliance then will this install on an older box or does it require a new one with all the Vista bloat (bloat in this case being all the bells and whistles that an appliance stuffed in the spare bedroom doesn't need)?

    The other, so far, unanswered question is security and how well it will perform in the wild complete with multiple internet connections.

    The concept looks good enough. Then again, the concept of Vista was good enough on paper though, to this point, Vista is looking more and more like Microsoft's New Coke.

    I'm more interested in performance than "golly, gee whiz" screen shots anyway.

    The real world will be the judge of whether this is a home run or a weak ground ball back to the pitcher.

    ttfn

    John
    ZDNet Gravatar
    TtfnJohn
    27th Apr 2007
  • You'll like this bloat
    WHS is built on Windows Server 2003, and the engineers left a lot of that in the build when they overlaid WHS on top. So you get a lot of latent capability a technically proficient person can exploit. Or, for the non-techie, you get a device that doesn't need a lot of care and feeding, and yet still backs up your workstations once a day, every day. The server sits behind your broadband connection's router (with inherent firewall/NAT blocking) and I'm sure someone will write appropriately sized security components.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Technogeez
    27th Apr 2007
View More Comments

Talkback - Tell Us What You Think

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

Blog Roll

Blog Archive

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources