As part of his keynote address on Sunday at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, Gates showed off Windows Home Server (more info at Ars) - a consumer device to serve as a central storage place for digital photos, music and other media. The first products are due out later this year from HP and others. The goal is to get devices that can cost less than USD 500. In the first of a two-part interview, Microsoft's chairman talks about why the average person wants a server, why they won't need a degree in computer science to run it and what hurdles remain before consumers reach the true digital home.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-07-06
"Easy" as in "connect the large hard drive as the secondary master or externally via USB, right click on the icon in 'My Computer' and set up sharing.".
Average User: What's secondary master mean? You mean I have to open the box!? I just want to not lose my family photos. Can you install it for me? Oh, USB, that'll backup all my PCs right?
Even if you first have to install the OS it won't take more than an hour or two.
In that time, you could be well on your way backing up your systems with WHS.
Edited 2007-01-09 01:31
Member since:2006-01-06
"Average user" has nothing to do with it, they have no need or desire for a server. Most of them only have one PC, if they want backup, a USB pen or external hard drive would serve just as well.
I re-iterate: I see no need for "Joe Average" to have a "home server". There is a strong correlation between those that want/need this sort of thing and those that could set it up.
I meant to connect via USB to the server (I thought that was obvious). Even connecting it internally is a simple matter of following the instructions that are generally provided with hard drives or are easily found on Google.
In that time, you could be well on your way backing up your systems with WHS.
If someone put together a specialized Linux distro for this sort of thing, which I'm sure they will if it takes off, the set-up time could be reduced to a few minutes (using a LiveCD-based approach). The backup is nothing special, nothing that a cron job or "Scheduled task" couldn't do.
Member since:2006-01-06
Member since:2006-06-24
"Easy" as in "connect the large hard drive as the secondary master or externally via USB, right click on the icon in 'My Computer' and set up sharing.".
Although with Linux it will be "install the OS, install Webmin and set up sharing from there", slightly more complex.
Well, that's easy; but how about setting the large hard drive to automatically back up all the connnected machines at midnight?
Or getting it to only back up files that differ on each machine?
Or getting the hard drive to support remote desktops?
Or supporting versioned backups so that the wife can just look at the her backups and pick out one file from one particular date to restore?
Edited 2007-01-09 09:33
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing."The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run."There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
Member since:
2006-01-06
It depends ou what you think "easy" means.
"Easy" as in "connect the large hard drive as the secondary master or externally via USB, right click on the icon in 'My Computer' and set up sharing.".
Although with Linux it will be "install the OS, install Webmin and set up sharing from there", slightly more complex.
(Note that the box only needs a monitor for this short proccess. VNC or Remote Desktop can be used for maintanance.)
Even if you first have to install the OS it won't take more than an hour or two.