Windows Home Server prototypes on parade
Over at the Microsoft press tent at the Consumer Electronics (CES) Show, Microsoft is showing off a few protypes of its just-announced Windows Home Server product.
Although there were rumors circulating over the past month that Windows Home Server would be based on Windows Vista, that's not the case, said product director Steven VanRoekel.
Instead, the Windows Home Server units that are being developed by a number of hardware makers, including Hewlett Packard, will include at their heart a variety of Windows Server 2003 technologies. (Home Server isn't Windows Server 2003-based, VanRoeckel clarified; rather, it is a custom conglomeration of various Windows server components.
Microsoft's Windows Home Server team is working closely with the Windows Live unit, VanRoeckel confirmed. "By the time we launch (in the second half of 2007, in time for the back-to-school buying cycle), we will have some (kind of deal) with Windows Live OneCare," VanRoeckel said.
"One idea would be to have OneCare back up to the Windows Home Server." When I asked VanRoeckel whether the still-unannounced LiveDrive virtual-storage service also would be part of the Windows Home Server equation, all he would say is that LiveDrive "will figure into the same discussion (as OneCare)" in some way.
At CES, Microsoft was showing off several Windows Home server prototypes developed by original device manufacturers (ODMs). ODMs build hardware for OEMs, or system vendors. On display:
* The "hockey puck" prototype, created as a reference design by Microsoft itself.
* The Inventec Home Server IHS2B.500, a two-drive, 500GB configuration that allows for horizontal or vertical placement in a home/home office.
* The Quanta Computer S36, an Intel-based, two-bay system, with an expansion bay for support of up to six additional drives
* A 64-bit AMD Live! Home Media server
* A couple of Intel-based "Model 1" and "Model 2" systems