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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?

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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 written prior to fall 2011 have been distributed by Que Publishing (a division of Pearson Education) and by Microsoft Press. As of November 2011, Ed is a partner in the independent publishing company Fair Trade Digital Exchange, which exclusively publishes his books.

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.

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RE: Microsoft hits a home run with Windows Home Server
dheeraj.nagpal@... 5th Jan
Is it just me or MS has created a faster way to spread viruses in your home :P
View in thread
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Linux gives you a better server. For free!
pjotr123 26th Apr 2007
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.
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Contributr
Not in the same market as a Linux server
Ed Bott 26th Apr 2007
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.
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It pays off!
pjotr123 26th Apr 2007
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.
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Contributr
I repeat...
Ed Bott 26th Apr 2007
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.
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Already on the market
gtdavies33@... 26th Apr 2007
There are already appliances that do this running linux though the user just sees a web interface.
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Seem familiar
dave.leigh@... 26th Apr 2007
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.
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I do believe the average home user is being greatly underestimated here.
xuniL_z 28th Apr 2007
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.
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Contributr
Your memory is very fuzzy, I think
Ed Bott 28th Apr 2007
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.
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Not one bit, Ed.
dave.leigh@... 28th Apr 2007
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.
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Contributr
I went out of my way to be polite
Ed Bott 28th Apr 2007
Sorry you're so easily offended.
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I took no offense.
dave.leigh@... 28th Apr 2007
nt
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Offense
neverhadachoice 29th Apr 2007
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
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Neverhadachoice, since you asked...
dave.leigh@... 29th Apr 2007
...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.
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My wager is...
TtfnJohn 27th Apr 2007
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
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You'll like this bloat
Technogeez 27th Apr 2007
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.
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your wager wins john
LarryLaser 27th Apr 2007
John
You are correct, there are already a number of people out there working on the simplification of server and operations, not to mention keeping the cost down.
Linux based system are the only thing that keeps M$ working hard to keep their customers happy, which is a good thing. I am a M$ fan and have been since Win 3.1, And I AM a Linux fan as well. Ubuntu is a great release, and the best part is that it is OPEN source, so lots of people make suggestions for improvements and lots of Excellent Developers make the improvements.
Microsof will not get the message, that is why they keep the bucks high, but as long there is serious competition, they will keep trying to keep the customers happy.

Larry
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Competition = Good
Duke E. Love 28th Apr 2007
It is all about Competition. For me, other developers, and home users as well, the most significant thing that OSS has contributed is lowering the entry point for obtaining high quality software. It used to be that a company used to have to drop at least a couple grand on an piece of Enterprise level software *just to look at the manuals*. But thanks to OSS, developers can get Express or Lite versions of many of their cooperate work horse brethren. Things like such as Oracle Database server, MSSQL server, almost all of MS's Visual Studio tools like VB, Visual C++ are now available for use in a production environment for free.

OSS is forcing many companies are being pressured by the market to end their Monopolistic pricing policies. Even Microsoft is contributing to lower software prices... no really. http://ibtimes.com/articles/20070416/microsoft-adobe-competition.htm


Take their Expression Studio. Expression Studio is the first direct competition to Adobe's Creative Suite (Photoshop, DreamWeaver, Illustrator, etc). This can only mean good things for consumers. I would love to see Flex Builder or DreamWeaver with a $100 price tag. I would buy them in a heart, as would the company I work for,

All I can say is that I would welcome an Open Source version of Home server. MS Home server looks like something I could really use. A central machine to manage back ups of all my boxes, that I can set up in 15 min and run off of one of my older boxes? Stick my noisy old hard drives in it, set it up, stick it in a closet and forget about it? That is a a no brainer. I know enough about Linux to know that setting up a system like that would be a pain in the ass to do from scratch. We are talking about AT LEAST a solid weekend down the tubes. I have never had luck getting SAMBA to work correctly with out a lot of massaging (but that is me).
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ITSA ALL ABOUT MONEY!
rbert16000 3rd May 2007
Thats all... just another way to get the idiots who have fallen for Windows to begin
with, to think they need to spend more money on useless crap LOLOLOLOLOLOL
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RE: ITSA ALL ABOUT MONEY!
Duke E. Love 13th May 2007
>>> Thats all... just another way to get the idiots who have fallen for Windows to begin
with, to think they need to spend more money on useless crap LOLOLOLOLOLOL


So what is wrong with making money off of idiots and worthless crap? That is the American way. LOLOLOLOLOLOL...

Nice try monkey boy.
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This is what the average non geek wants
tswartz 3rd May 2007
I think the WHS covers the basics pretty well from what the original article stated. You windows and linux geeks might be suprised by how many average computer users have multiple computers in their house. They want easy to use, easy to get started with, and they will pay for those products that meet that need. Plus, like John said, if there is a market for it, a linux version of the appliance will come out quick. Actually no home user (for the most part, OS bigots excluded) would really care what OS is on the appliance, as long as it works as advertised.
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Just to be...
cashaww 27th Apr 2007
devil advocate, when has a Windows product been easy to use, much less set up? It
took me 1 week to do a Vista upgrade.
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Vista
tstrowd@... 28th Apr 2007
Why would anybody want to get ripped off with Vista? That OS oozes Microsoft's greed.
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Why Vista?
pwabrahams 28th Apr 2007
Having just gotten an Acer laptop preloaded with Vista (and now boasting Ubuntu Linux in a second partition), I'll point out the reason why Vista has gotten anywhere at all: Microsoft has gotten all the major system vendors to install it as the standard OS (with no other choices). If the Vista market were to include only those who deliberately choose it, Vista would be a historic flop.

I haven't decided if Vista is a downgrade from XP, but it certainly isn't much of an upgrade.
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JUST MAKE WINDOWS WORK!
rbert16000 3rd May 2007
Why dont they just make windows work and then they cam install that into their
home machine.... Forget the server concept for home./... I cant believe you have
fallen for this crap!
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Some folks...
mustang_z 27th Apr 2007
like they stuff to "just work" and others (you) like stuff one must "tweak" and "mess with".

Geeks like to mess with computer stuff, while the masses like to get stuff DONE.

Again, to each his own. You like Linux - we all get that! wink
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No.. Not a sore spot...
pzsolnay@... 27th Apr 2007
My, my. I apparently hit a very sore spot there, given the vehemence of your reaction......

More like annoyance at the standard, ignorant fanboi/fanatic knee-jerk reflex posting that shows up everytime someone posts something positive about a Microsoft product and tries unsuccessfully to convince people how great Linux is - even when it doesn't even come close.

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.

That's JUST the whole point of this product. With Windows Home Server - the learning curve is almost FLAT. You Linux fanatics just don't seem to comprehend that MOST people are blissfully ignorant on highly technical stuff - AND PREFER TO REMAIN IN THE DARK! As long as they can connect to the internet, get their email, surf web sites, get the news, play games and such, they just DO NOT give a rat's hairy hind end about getting under the hood of their PC. And when things don't work, they call people like myself to fix the problem and get 'em back up on their way.

Backups and security are NOT hot button issues in their universe - at least not until something crashes and they lose everything. And even then, given the options for backing today's mega-monster hard drives, chances are quite excellent they won't start doing backups even after a major disaster.

When something comes along and promises to handle all that utterly mundane and BORING stuff like backing up and such AND makes it a two or three click process AND stays out of their way and lets them do their thing AND is something that can be gotten cheap, that becomes a VERY attractive product for Joe Average and puts yet another nail in the Linux-as-a-home-server coffin - even if Windows Home Server boxes ultimately only deliver only HALF of what they promise. Even their hardware can (and ultimately WILL) fail.

So you can stick all the free help up on the web you want - but until Linux is as easy and user friendly as Windows and Windows Home Server, there won't be much interest in it except from the geeky fanboi crowd who is willing to put up with the quirks, limitations and the steep learning curve involved with the product.

When you go so far as to ADMIT that Linux is as big and scary (to Joe Average) as you just made it out to be, then NO WONDER broad public acceptance of Linux is NOT happening. The payoff of having "better security" just isn't enough bait to raise their interest. And probably never will be until you Linux guys finally ABSORB this little fact and deal with it.
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Huh? Linux Scary?
tstrowd@... 28th Apr 2007
It's apparant you haven't tried Ubuntu. It can't get any easier than that.
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Yes, Big and Scary... As HE said...
Wolfie2K3 2nd May 2007
Quoting the original poster:
...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.

Now then, what would you call this - IF you were Joe Average, Technophobe?

If I was Joe Average, Technophobe, and I had my choice between Linux - something with a steep learning curve - and a Windows Home Server - something I already - more or less - know how to use and almost NO learning curve behind it, gee... I think I'd have to go with the Windows box.

Going with Linux would, no doubt about it, require that I spend hours configuring, figuring out how to configure the bloody thing. Hours which I would rather spend doing other stuff that's MORE important to me than trying to configure a dad-gum server.

FWIW, I haven't tried Ubuntu lately. No interest in it. And that's NOT the point. I'm not Joe Average. I merely understand my customer base. They have a hard enough time setting up a printer, let alone their computer. This, mind you, is even with the dirt simple quick start guides most printer makers give away with their hardware.

They simply don't want to be bothered learning how. All they want is for it to work. Period. They are way too busy to sit down, read a manual, or dig through the 15 million hits they get on their favorite search engine to find some obscure command line string that may or may not fix the issue with their video card. They have LIVES. They have families. They have BETTER things to do with their time.

Yes, I know, that goes against the grain of geekdom. To a geek - a Linux fanatic especially - there's NOTHING better to do than constant tweaking and tinkering their computers. Unfortunately, not everyone falls into that catagory. WHS is for them. Linux isn't.
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Plus
tswartz 3rd May 2007
All the rants from linux folks I see on the internet every time the words microsoft or windows is mentioned is reminiscent of the liberals all wanting to tell us how to run our lives. The libs want to believe they are smarter than everyone else, and if we'd just give our money to them, we wouldn't have to worry about a thing. Linux folks, the vocal blogoshpere crowd anyway, want to believe they are smarter than everyone else, and if we'd just give our computers (OS) to them, we wouldn't have to worry about a thing.
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Excellent Response...
jerry@... 3rd May 2007
...to the Linux geeks who have to attack MS on every single article. So they hate MS, my gawd we know it by now. I hate censorship but...These MS haters ruin every thread by redirecting it to MS vs. Linux vs. Apple and it gets tiring trying seeing it over and over. Don't they have Linux topics to fill their time?

GO AWAY!
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It pays off!
tstrowd@... 27th Apr 2007
I am a big fan of Ubuntu and it's free while microsoft is trying to take a good chunk of money from you.
The only problem i see with Ubuntu is integration with active directory. Dosen't work. Other than that it's excellent.
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Linux doesn?t not do it better.
Richard B 28th Apr 2007
Perhaps if you are setting up a Apache with a server side database and PHP.
I did exactly the same thing under Debian, which was very difficult because the lack of support. It took me 5 hours because I was never told I needed to install PHP scripts for MYSQL and 21 days to get files sharing to work from a file on my Linux box mapped to my Windows drive. Apparently, apt-get and no help file told me that I need to create an user file before I share a Linux file on my windows box. I have no luck going the other way around. An average user would never go as far as I did. The problem is Linux is not user friendly.
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Of course it's the same market
voska 26th Apr 2007
I can do with Linux everything that you state Windows can do. With Linux it's free but I have to do the work. Will average joe want to do the work? Depends on how much Microsoft charges I guess. If the server is under $1000 then I'm betting Average Joe goes for it. If it exceeds $1000 he will think twices and it runs over $2000 he will not go for it.

My guess is Microsoft will price it at $400.
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Really now?
Duke E. Love 27th Apr 2007
>>I can do with Linux everything that you state Windows can do.

This I want to see. And how long would it take to set up a system like that? Say for a person pretty who uses Linux on a regular basis but is not a sys-admin, such as myself?
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Avg. Joe - AKA my farther & his business...nope
fr0thy2. 27th Apr 2007
There is no way an average Joe would able to hookup a linux box to do the same thing...
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Can it play a video game? Or run Quickbooks?
tswartz 3rd May 2007
The software the average person sees doesn't seem to list linux flavors as compatible OS's.
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BTW.. You cannot do either of those on WHS either....
LazLong 4th May 2007
But you can do that and more on a custom Linux ones.......

Still there are more than one Linux or other non-MS (appliance hardware) that do what WHS does NOW. (under @ $300~500) and then all the free ones....
~~Equally easy to use and not as limited to just current MS offerings & churn.

But if all you know & want to know is MS.... That is your Loss

And for you "Marketing"/monopoly may trump real "Technology"

ENJOY.......

Use whatever suits your needs... but do not assume it is the only or best thing without actually looking for yourself........(with some degree of perspective, understanding or interest).

Wait for the next developing trend?
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Sounds like a good product. Nevertheless...
dave.leigh@... 26th Apr 2007
...I'd need more information before I know to whom I should recommend it. Ed, I'm a little surprised that you started by saying that Windows Home Server is "not a general purpose file/web/application server," yet all four of your bulleted points are things that I either currently do with a general purpose file/web/application server, or don't need an appliance to do at all. Granted, WHS may do them better, but still the claim smacks a little of hyperbole.

The backup service sounds like an efficient way of doing backups. And for many users it's probably worth it for that alone. If you're only interested in backup up data then a file server and a copy of Cobian Backup negates the expense. What I'd be FAR more interested in hearing is whether, upon replacing a machine on my network, can I access the backup with the new machine and re-create my working environment? I've done that more often at home than I've had to completely restore a trashed OS (Cobian stores to standard zip archives, so I don't have any licensing or compatibility issues when I go to restore files.)

Shared Folders is the very definition of a file server. Nothing really noteworthy there.

Remote access sounds decent, too. I don't see much need for it given existing free solutions such as LogMeIn.com, but it's nice that they've included this. Now here's the question: A solution like LogMeIn.com is brokered, and I don't have to open even a single port on my firewall in order to access any computer on my network remotely, and I can get to it even through the tightest lock-down. Is this level of security available for remote access with Windows Home Server, or would I have to open my firewall?

As for the last bullet, I'm wondering what the alerts are going to give me that's not already in my face. By putting these notifications on Windows Home Server, can I turn off those damnable alerts on the individual PCs? Or am I going to get more of what I've already got? I'm the kind of guy who would prefer reports than alerts, anyway (as in the kind of daily reports delivered to my inbox by Cobian Backup. Let's face it, "your antivirus is five minutes out of date" isn't something that needs desperate immediate attention. After all, Microsoft doesn't have a problem dealing with security patches once a month, so why should I not set my own schedule based on my own assessment of priorities? Like receiving an email from my antivirus IIF it's out of date?

If you've got an all XP or Vista Microsoft home network, then this sounds like a great buy, especially if you buy it pre-installed. The target audience probably isn't going to want to do even the little bit of install that you did, and it sounds like they won't have to.

If you're anybody else, then the most important take-home fact I've read here is that this solution is a non-starter for heterogenous networks. If you've got a Mac or an Ubuntu box, or a 64-bit Windows box, or if you've still got a box or two with Win2K on it you need not apply. It's a Microsoft-only club. If interoperability is important to you then this is decidedly not "better". Then again, if you have any of those things your definition of "better" is different to start with.

Obviously I'm not the target audience. I'm truly interested in answers to the questions above, though, because I may know people who are.
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My remote access question is answered in the article.
dave.leigh@... 26th Apr 2007
I missed it the first time through.
I can't say I'm thrilled with the answer.
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Contributr
Yes, you can turn off alerts
Ed Bott 26th Apr 2007
"can I turn off those damnable alerts on the individual PCs?"

Yes. Completely customizable. I want to see alerts. I don;t want my wife to see alkerts. Takes two clicks to do that.
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Contributr
Replacement
Ed Bott 26th Apr 2007
"What I'd be FAR more interested in hearing is whether, upon replacing a machine on my network, can I access the backup with the new machine and re-create my working environment?"

Yes.
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Replace, and pray...
Deefburger 27th Apr 2007
Replace, or restore to a new machine? SURE you can do that. Then pray Genuine Dis-advantage let's you use it? I would also be wary of anything MS has that connects all of my machines together. How's the security on this thing? Are we going to get a big Security patch before it hits the shelf like Vista?
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Contributr
What are you talking about?q
Ed Bott 27th Apr 2007
It's based on the same code base as Windows Sergver 2003, which has been generally excellent for security. And what "big security patch for Vista"? All operating systems have security updates. That's true of Windows, OS X, Linux, and everything else under the sun.
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You're right.
Deefburger 27th Apr 2007
Yes. All OSs require service patches. Including WHS. Didn't mean to imply that they didn't. But we all know Windows security is swiss cheese. Even Balmer once said that in order to truly address the problem of MS security, they would have to do a complete re-write.

My question is this: Why would I want to put the family jewels into a MS safe?

Second: Have you tried restoring your backup into a new machine? Genuine Advantage is going to bite you when you do...

I do think the backup algorithm is a good one. Just the wrong OS to do it with, and the wrong market. It's going to be just ANOTHER MS box, that requires attention for antivirus, security and other maintenance and licenses. Who want's that?????
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You should be...
mustang_z 27th Apr 2007
afraid, very afraid.

And leave at that. I don't share your psychosis. Or maybe I'm just braver than you are!

See you on the other side, if you make. wink
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Windows Home Server and Linux Are In The Same Market
chessmen 27th Apr 2007
Arguing that Linux is not in the home server market because it is too difficult; is like saying that Vista is to hard because you have to learn Dos commands! Linux has come a long way from the "command line only days". Just as Vista is a far cry from MS Dos. Currently, the most common way to setup a home server is to install Linux, and many people have. To pretend the home server market previously did not exist because Microsoft did not have a product for it is silly.

Microsoft is known for many things, but creating new markets is not one of them. I have heard many people complain that Microsoft is the ultimate photocopy machine. I personally feel that a good idea is a good idea; and we would all be better off if we eliminated software patents (which don't appear to work anyway).
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How's the doobie dude...it's all free world man
fr0thy2. 27th Apr 2007
Sheesh
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No doobie Required
chessmen 27th Apr 2007
I believe in open source software, no doobie required!
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No, but maybe a bag of glue
BFD 27th Apr 2007
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They are attempting two different things
DevGuy_z 31st Aug 2007
They are in a different market because they are attempting to do two different things.

WHS is not trying to be a general purpose server. It is a backup appliance, print server, and multi-media storage device.

Just like linux a person could setup a server with plain ol windows but that's not the point.

The point is to provide a headless device that an almost completely illiterate computer user can operate.
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RE: Microsoft hits a home run with Windows Home Server
dheeraj.nagpal@... 5th Jan
Is it just me or MS has created a faster way to spread viruses in your home :P

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