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Spotlight: Windows Home Server
Microsoft announced their heavily rumored Windows Home Server today. I got a chance to speak to Microsoft representatives about the new operating system. First, let me get the big bombshell out of the way. The only way to get this operating system is to buy a computer through an OEM. Initially it will be HP, however no exclusivity is mentioned so its expected that other OEMs will be able to produce the servers. This means that you will not be able to buy a stand alone license of Windows Home Server for your server. The first server should be available in the second half of 2007. Now onto the features of the new operating system. First it's based off of Windows Vista, so the baseline functionality that you get with Vista will be included. Also, up to 10 computers will be able to connect to the server. There are some really neat features that make Windows Home Server a really feature rich operating system. First, it backs up your PCs around the house - using incremental backups to allow users to copy out individual files or the entire PC. The hardware has USB ports so not only can you back the data up to the Home Server, you can push it out to external drives. Microsoft says that it will allow the user to "rewind" a system back to when it was working better. That sounds awfully familiar, almost like you had a machine to go back in time (for the uninitiated, that's a jab at MS for stealing another Apple idea).   Another feature is the centralization of all your media files from around the house. Your music, movies and pictures stored on one computer that doesn't get shut off at night or when you go to bed. Available 24 hours a day. This is one problem I struggle with - I turn my computer off at the end of the night and any music or movies on that computer are no longer available to anyone in the house. You can remotely connect to the server from anywhere on the Internet and access files and upload photos. On the road (like at say, CES 2007) and your SD card is full of pictures? Find a computer and upload your pictures to your server and start with an empty card. You can also connect to any Windows Media Extender like an Xbox 360, which is a huge plus. Also, it supports Windows Media Connect so devices like today's announcement of Netgear's Digital Entertainer HD can connect to the Windows Home Server to stream media to your HDTV.    The initial box as specified by HP is a 1.8GHz AMD Sempron-64 with four internal HD bays, as well as four USB ports to support external expansion, and the current maximum capacity is specified as 6TB, though that seems because they're using 750GB drives, and that 6TB limit is just eight hard drives at 750GB each. It can also act as a print server as well, without having to purchase a stand alone print server device. Finally, one of the more interesting future prospects for Windows Home Server could be its use to store HD-DVD movies - using the AACS Managed Copy system to rip the contents of a HD-DVD to a hard drive in an encrypted manner. Users could (with supporting set top boxes) load their movies onto the server and watch the HD DVD content from any room in the house. Now this functionality wasn't mentioned at all nor even suggested, but it seems like a useful and practical use for a server that supports upwards of 4TB of disk space. It seemed like such a wonderful idea - an always on device that would have provided a central storage repository for your media - your pictures, music and movies. Allow it to act as a backup device, and a server for Windows Media Extenders. The only downside for us power users is that we can't buy the OS by itself and install it on our hardware. If you enjoyed this article, make sure to check out the rest of our extensive CES Coverage. You can help support us by Digging this article. 
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