Finally got round to installing this product. I know it was probably because I was installing onto a VM machine but the installation process was long. Any idea what the Vista looking boot screen was all about? I thought it had installed at one point only to discover it started copying server 2003 files across. Someone should slip the development team a copy of nlite. 
I just noticed that the expiry date for my license is August 2008. So I guess there is a lot of work that still has to be completed on this product.
It shows that a small development team have worked on this. For once a MS product does not have thousands of options and a bloated amount of functionality. I was impressed with WHS servers simplicity. Basically it does what it says on the can.
I don't think the market will be massive. It is easy to sync folders and allow access to shared folders with just 2 machines. However this becomes a bit more tricky once you get past 3 machines. And that is where I think this product should be aimed. (Or even 2 machines with a large number of users per machine!)
A central repository for documents, pictures, videos is certainly welcomed. And it certainly makes backing up those documents, pictures and videos a lot easier then checking each machine in turn.
of course I could build a linux box that would perform the same function as WHS. However I doubt that you would get the same level of integration that you do with home server console. Also I imagine setting up a linux box to act the same as WHS would take a lot more effort that it took me to get the WHS system up and running.
Most impressed from a MS product. Goes to show what is achievable with a small team and without the constant bureaucracy and departmental power struggle that has crippled vista (in my opinion)
I wonder if it would be possible to build a disk less header unit that could boot from the network and then stream all the media from WHS. Such a unit could be as small as a freeview box without the bulk of a hard drive. Attach a small 10 inch touch screen on the front and connect to 1tb of music, videos and pictures...
I just noticed that the expiry date for my license is August 2008. So I guess there is a lot of work that still has to be completed on this product.
It shows that a small development team have worked on this. For once a MS product does not have thousands of options and a bloated amount of functionality. I was impressed with WHS servers simplicity. Basically it does what it says on the can.
I don't think the market will be massive. It is easy to sync folders and allow access to shared folders with just 2 machines. However this becomes a bit more tricky once you get past 3 machines. And that is where I think this product should be aimed. (Or even 2 machines with a large number of users per machine!)
A central repository for documents, pictures, videos is certainly welcomed. And it certainly makes backing up those documents, pictures and videos a lot easier then checking each machine in turn.
of course I could build a linux box that would perform the same function as WHS. However I doubt that you would get the same level of integration that you do with home server console. Also I imagine setting up a linux box to act the same as WHS would take a lot more effort that it took me to get the WHS system up and running.
Most impressed from a MS product. Goes to show what is achievable with a small team and without the constant bureaucracy and departmental power struggle that has crippled vista (in my opinion)
I wonder if it would be possible to build a disk less header unit that could boot from the network and then stream all the media from WHS. Such a unit could be as small as a freeview box without the bulk of a hard drive. Attach a small 10 inch touch screen on the front and connect to 1tb of music, videos and pictures...
