By Philip Churchill on September 25th, 2007
Will Windows Home Server be Microsoft’s next flop?
Will Windows Home Server be Microsoft’s next flop? That’s the title of a blog entry on ZDNet about our loved home servers by David Berlind. I think somewhere along the line his got the wrong end of the stick..How can you compare a Linux server to Windows Home Server?
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It’s clear that Mr. Berlind has never tried the product. If he had tried it and didn’t like it, then that’s fine. But to pan the product based on a press release of the update is irresponsible IMHO.
Having a “Home Server” that provides seamless, intelligent backup of important data could be a good thing for some people, but why not simply store the data on a redundant device to begin with?
Rather than pushing the same old and tired client-server model into homes, let’s see some really inovative thin client solutions, that offer users the opportunity to personalize their system use, by attaching a memory stick to any “terminal,” be it a touch screen in the kitchen a full-blown thin client workstation in a bedroom or office or an Internet Kiosk in an airport!
Having another one or more disks spinning with redundant data does nothing to prevent its loss in case of natural dissaster. On the other hand, I can be pretty sure that the pictures I have stored in Flickr or the documents I have stored in Google Apps can be accessed from anywhere and are safe from any natural dissaster that I and my family are likely to survive.
I would definately line up to buy a system that offered integrated security that included remote video monitoring, home control and thin-client applications. I doubt I will give WHS more than a cursory inspection.
If Microsoft wants to TRULY revolutionize the home environment, they should lobby the FCC to require Cable TV and Satellite providers to provide open Tuner APIs and security specs, so hardware vendors could provide TRULY integrated Media Center PCs that did NOT require a seperate Cable Company supplied tuner!
I was a beta tester for WHS. I truly like the product. However, David’s analysis is insightful and may well be on point.
Microsoft is often awful at marketing, particularly in the consumer market, and even though WHS does lots of useful stuff it is not the only game for backup. In my experience, most residential customers are unlikely to buy another computer that sits somewhere and does “nothing” when they have other uses for their money. I am in the business and think it will be hard to sell this to my clients.
Hi Jim,
I agree that his assumption of WHS seems to be based on the press release of the update.
Hi Aaron,
I agree the OEM software is overpriced. When hardware providers like HP have their”home servers” available the priceing will look a lot better as large OEM’s get special pricing from Microsoft and hopefully that saving will be passed on to the end user. The server in the name can be scary for some people prehaps something like Windows Home Complete would have been better name choice.
Hi ProBizTeam ,
I think some of the points you make are still a few years away yet for the consumer market.
For home control there is already a beta add-in and remote video monitoring will also be avilable as an add-in soon as well.
Hi Richard,
I agree that most residential customers are unlikely to buy another computer that sits somewhere and does “nothing” but hopefully with the size of these units coming out (e.g. Tranquil PC) consumers will just put them on their desks out of the way and class them like a “big” router.
Marketing and Microsoft are 2 words which don’t work well together i’m afraid.
He’s obviously never used, seen or even thought about the product before writing the “review”. There are a lot of misconceptions in the article, however I do agree with him on the patching side of things – the latest patches that have come out seem to be causing a bit of an issue with reinstalls on the client side? That is not good – even for a home user.
The server should be updating itself automagically at night, so most users won’t even notice it until the clients start to complain that they need to be updated.
What is interesting is that the press release is obviously not showing the selling points of whs, namely remote access to files and pictures, remote access to the desktop with (potentially) no firewall changes needed, Automatic backups to the server with easy restoration including the ability to restore a backed up server with a boot cd and with some of the new addons auto publishing of pictures to flickr etc.
I’ve yet to find a unix server that does all of these features (especially one that can be installed, setup and run without a mouse and keyboard and without a degree in unix stuff)
Having said all that, I won’t be buying a copy until the trial version comes out so that I can see if it works better than the buggy beta version does and the price drops although
Hi Andy,
I think this September update should have been beta tested more, either internally or externally and then a lot of these problems would not have materialized.
What about using WHS in a small golfclub with only five users. I havent even tried this server, and i dont think we need a Server with AD and all. We store files and and pictures on a Win 200 server with AD. Is it possible to have a home area???
Ram
Hi Ram,
WHS does not support Active Directory (AD) but I would think that Home Server would be a good choice for your storage and backup of your files and pics.
Thanks for the answer, but do the users have their own home areas? It’s just impossible to get detailed information on this new server software. Is theire a trial version available?
Hi Ram,
Sorry I don’t understand what you mean by “home area”? We shall be able to order disk kits of the 120 day Evaluation Editions from the Microsoft home server web site. These Evaluation editions shall be available in English, French, Spanish and German.
is there any way to get the 120 day trial by downloading? I haven’t found anything at microsoft’s Site.
Greetz from http://www.techdummie.de
Hi bl4ckm00n,
I think that due to the size of the 3 CDs/DVDs is why Microsoft has not got it available for download. Don’t forget that it can be ordered from Microsoft for a nominal fee.