Windows Home Server users want their Power Pack 1
Microsoft officials acknowledged this week that they are not going to release until June a fix for the serious data-corruption bug affecting Windows Home Server (WHS) that was first discovered months ago and affects the back-up of a growing number of Microsoft and third-party applications.
The WHS team also said they're likely to hold off on releasing the the next version of WHS -- the Power Pack 1 update originally slated for this spring -- until the data-corruption fix was released. Microsoft finished the Power Pack 1 development in January, but then put all hands on solving the data-corruption bug, officials said.
But should Power Pack 1 be held up until the corruption bug fix is released? Microsoft officials asked their customers this week whether its current Power Pack 1 delay plan was a good one. And so far, customers are saying it is not.
One of the features about which WHS users are seemingly most is Power Pack 1's addition of support for 64-bit Windows Vista machines via the WHS Connector. Power Pack 1 also provides new back-up, remote-access and disaster-recovery functionality, among other new features. WHS users weighing in on the WHS forum said they want their Power Pack 1 release, and they want it now. From poster "Martin":
"Actually, the feature of Power Pack 1 that I need urgently is the 64 bit WHS connector. Not that the other features are not welcome, they are just not as important in comparison."
Another forum poster, "Kariya21," agreed:
"First, let me start off by saying that I have not been bitten by any corruption with my data and I continue to store music/videos/pics/personal data on my server. IMO, I don't see any reason to hold the PP1 code back and wait until the data corruption patch is released (unless the PP1 code makes the data corruption happen more frequently, which I seriously doubt is the case, judging by the detailed explanation given as to what causes the problem). I, for one, am looking forward to the new features of PP1 and would like to get it sooner rather than later."
If early poster reaction is indicitive of overall WHS customer opinion, maybe the WHS team will relent and get the Power Pack 1 release out there before summer...
Related reading: My ZDNet blogging colleague Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has characterized the corruption bug as single-handedly turning WHS into Microsoft's biggest lemon.