MS Windows Home Server

Beginning tomorrow, November 1, Microsoft introduces a 30% price reduction on the Windows Home Server software after a successful year on the market. Although there is no recommended price set by Microsoft, this will bring the price down to approximately $120 in the US and £80 in the UK – A great saving.

Microsoft say that they are reducing the price of Windows Home Server which comes in a System Builder version to provide additional value to the system builder community and further promote Microsoft’s new home server category.

During its first year in the market, Windows Home Server has been embraced by customers in over 50 countries and the list of hardware partners continues to grow with third-party software developers having released or have announced more than 60 Add-in programs extending the capabilities of Windows Home Server.

PDC2008 has just finished and next week WinHEC 2008 takes place between November 4th-7th in California at the Los Angeles Convention Center and this year the event for industry professionals has 2 sessions dedicated to Windows Home Server.

“Design Considerations for Building a Windows Home Server – CON-T577” takes place on Thursday November 06 2008 at 4:30 PM and is a level 200 event. Presented by Mark Pendergrast and CJ Saretto this session presents an overview of Windows Home Server, followed by a discussion of the market opportunities for hardware partners.

Next up is a panel discussion "Discussion: Windows Home Server – CON-P667" which takes place on Friday November 07 2008 at 2:30 PM and again is a level 200 event. Presented by Brendan Grant and Hamid Al-Azzawe this chalk talk and demonstration will provide attendees an opportunity to directly interact with an expert panel to answer any business or technical questions related to Windows Home Server. It is intended as a complement to session CON-T577, "Design Considerations for Building a Windows Home Server."

With the standard full conference registration costing $1,695.00 I wont be there, but if you are interested more information is available from the Microsoft WinHEC website.

It was announced yesterday at the end of one of the WHS sessions at PDC2008, that Live Mesh would be available within the Windows Home Server product.

The WHS Team blog stated in a post:

The Windows Home Server and Windows Live Mesh teams are working closely together to define and develop a set of solutions that take advantage of the unique features of Windows Home Server and Windows Live Mesh.

As Live Mesh is just entering a beta program, the Windows Home Server team and Live Mesh teams do not have any definitive dates or delivery vehicles defined for the solutions showcased in the technology demonstration.  However, we are excited about the possibilities and hope you are too …

On the last day at the conference the team demonstrated some of the integration possibilities between the two products including an add-in that enables a user to add their Home Server to Live Mesh which also provides an extensible storage solution.

Files and media stored on your home server would be able to be accessed or selectively synchronized with other devices in your mesh, such as a PC, Mac or mobile phone and Windows Home Server could also be enabled as a device in a person’s Live Mesh and multiple people within your family could be provided access to their home server shared folders through their own personal Mesh.

It’s great news that Live Mesh integration is coming to Windows home Server. The product just keeps getting better!

The 2nd video on Windows Home server from PDC2008 is now available. "Exposing Connected Home Services to the Internet Via Windows Home Server" was co-presented by Brendan Grant and Doug Berrett.

In this video we are shown how to leverage the Remote Access platform in WHS to expose on-premises services running in the connected home to the Internet. See how to expose a home automation service running on Windows Home Server to the Internet, and watch a demonstration that shows how to expose services that may be hosted on other devices inside the connected home using Windows Home Server as a gateway. Finally, see a sneak preview of Home Server and Live Mesh working together to further enhance the remote experience for the connected home.

The video are PowerPoint slides are available from here.

WhatPC has a 5 page article which takes a look at Windows Home Server.

The writer Alan Stevens documents his experience with a HP MediaSmart Server, looking at the hardware, software and the Power Pack 1 update.

Read it here.

If you are interested in developing for Windows Home server and were not able to attend PDC2008 then Microsoft’s Channel 9 website are hosting the video from the events session "Developing Connected Home Applications and Services for Windows Home Server".

In the video cast which lasts for just over an hour, CJ Saretto and Fabian Uhse show you how to build applications and services deployed on Windows Home Server that power PCs and devices throughout a connected home. See an example home automation and energy management service, and watch the creation of an on-premises service that exposes HVAC, window shades, and lighting controls to all devices on the home network. Hear how to package the service as a Windows Home Server add-in, quickly create a configuration UI, deploy a PC application for controlling the service, and demonstrate control from other devices such as TVs and cell phones.

The video as well as the PowerPoint slides are available from here.

The Home Server Show #22 interviews CJ Saretto, Mark Pendergrast, Brendan Grant and Jonas Svensson from the Windows Home Server team, who took the time out of their schedule whilst at PDC2008 to be interviewed by the shows host David McCabe.

The 18 minute podcast is available from here.

Website Geeks to Do! has a review of Windows Home server which although basic, should be a refresher to those of us in the know.

In conclusion the article states:

…if you have a multi-PC home network, or a home business, this is a robust backup solution. While it can be expensive, the extra features such as remote access and shared folders are added benefits to this choice.

You can read the full article here.