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Its very impressive how MS is shutting the personal computer functionalities away. Why you can't share or even setup a web server on your Windows Vista 'Standard' edition? Or better, why you will need to buy a brand new Windows Home Server edition to access your files from anywhere with a internet connection?

This product is for OEMs who will be shipping a machine specifically for the tasks at hand.

Sure you could do the majority of this with apache and a good load of scripts and other 3rd party apps but this is for the people who really have no clue on how to do that.

Sorry but I just don't agree with dozen different versions to carry through simple computer services.

If you look at the features in the various vista editions you soon realize the only reason they have the different 'editions' is to raise the prices in the hopes you won't notice.

Yes it sucks!

Edited 2007-06-13 13:23

This isn't a version of Vista, it's a version of Windows 2003, and you can setup a webserver on Vista, every version, so I am not sure what your beef is

While remote access to files certainly is a feature of WHS, the -main- feature is its backup capabilities. Think of it more like FreeNAS ( www.freenas.org ), but a Microsoft release.

WHS automatically backs up your home computers, for one. It does so in a manner that does not use very much space on the Server itself -- I have 1 TB in my WHS and between 3 computers totaling ~1.5 TB of data, I use ~300 GB, I believe. Should any of these computers lose a drive, I can put a new drive in the system and recover it as if nothing had ever gone wrong.

WHS provides a centralized place to share files among your home computers. You can dump your wedding pictures on it and everyone at home can browse it, easily. You can turn on 'Folder Duplication' (on a per-share basis) so that should you lose a drive in the Server itself (assuming it has more than one), you don't lose your precious pictures or your 20 GB of smooth jazz music.

WHS gives you remote access to not just the files you share on it, but to your computers themselves (for those with OS' that support it -- XP Pro does, but not XP Home; Vista Business/Ultimate but not Home Premium). You just open up your WHS webpage and you can log in and have your full desktop. It's like VNC but uses MS' Remote Desktop instead.

WHS has a service by which you can acquire a DNS name. Similar to DynDNS or No-IP, WHS keeps your *.livenode.com address up to date with modem IP changes. It also automatically configures your router for all this, provided it supports uPNP.

WHS is NOT a webserver. It's a means to back up your computers with little to no human interaction. It's a way to store and share files and provides a means to access them remotely. It's not a new Windows release for end-users and it's not based on Vista. It's a highly modified Server 2003 release that is intended to be purchased pre-installed on hardware. It will be available for box-builders like you and I as an OEM release, but that isn't the commonly intended function.

Yes, these are all features that are available with other programs -- FreeNAS, VNC, Apache, etc. -- but it's bundled together in an easy-to-use fashion such that Real People with a 1 GHz, 256 MB RAM old doorstop laying around can set it up and use it.

From my own experiences with it, I can honestly say that WHS is probably the best Microsoft product released in a very, very long time.

Agreed. This is "just" a budle of useful services coupled into an appliance with ultimate goal to make simple hardware devices.

Anyone having a LAN in your house should instantly understand how good this could be. Well, actually even if you have a single PC (expecially if that's a portable PC like notebooks or laptop) might find it very handy.

It's a good product: I would buy it (if I ever knew how much it will cost ;-)

Yeah, it's a pretty nice setup, wonder how much it will cost...

Of course the .Mac upgrade coupled with Leapord's backup features does exactly the same thing.

"(for those with OS' that support it -- XP Pro does, but not XP Home; Vista Business/Ultimate but not Home Premium)"

Why release Windows Home Server that doesn't work with the "Home" versions of their operating systems?

WHS gives you remote access to not just the files you share on it, but to your computers themselves (for those with OS' that support it -- XP Pro does, but not XP Home; Vista Business/Ultimate but not Home Premium).

I mean that the OS needs to support Remote Desktop, not Windows Home Server. All Windows versions XP on up can be used with WHS. Anything that supports SMB can access its shares.

I apologize for the miscommunication, but don't blindly hate on the product just yet.

WHS is NOT a webserver.

I've read, however, that they're looking into including IIS and company in later releases.

What will happen to the Internet as an industry when PC users find it's cheap to buy their own server, and want to host their own websites and webservices on their own machines?

Sounds good from your post.