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Windows Home Server
JCSheffield
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've been a long long time lurker here, and this is my first post, let alone my first OP. I do apologise if I stuff this up! Anyhow, I recently decided that I REALLY needed a server in my house, and after struggling a lot with Linux, despite various guides, I got fed up with having to insult it to get the help I needed (if you've ever tried getting linux help you'll know what I mean). A couple of weeks back here in Blighty, I'd got a notice from OcUK telling me that they now had "Windows Home Server" in stock. Intrigued, I did a little research and here's what I found, shamelessly ripped from Wikipedia:
Fair enough, you've grabbed my attention thus far. You've released a product that does what I need at £80 more than the price I can struggle through getting for free with linux. But I'm lazy, and the hours I work mean that £80 isn't too much of a stretch to save me weeks configuring my free server. So, I read on, and saw the list of features, hoping something would pop out and scream at me "Buy me now!"
Basically, what I wanted from a server before I even heard of this, was a centralised place in the home of 3 PCs, 2 laptops and 2 Xbox 360's that I could store all my music, video, pictures and documents that was compatible with the Xbox 360 I recently purchased (after the DivX / Xvid announcement) and that would provide backups of the home PCs regularly (I have a reverse-midas touch with computers, I seem to be able to break them very easily indeed). However, I do a lot of travelling to go and see my girlfriend who lives 100 miles away from where I do. Not only that, but my brother and I both go to university, so access to upload and download files to the server whilst we are away would be incredibly useful...
This is even better than I wanted. Not only do I have access to the files and folders shared on the server, but if any of my computers are on I can use remote desktop from wherever I am to use them if I wanted to get round an internet filter, find a file that isn't shared on the server, set up a virus scan, disk defrag, whatever. But what if the computer you need to access isn't on? What about using it to download torrents to save you leaving your power hungry gaming rig on? What about x feature that is missing that you need to do y? This is where Add-ins come in. Add-ins are modules you can install to enable extra features that not everyone needs. There's an add-in that allows control over Wake-on-LAN for you networked PCs, one that controls torrents remotely, turns your server into the router and DHCP server, hell, there's add-ins that can link to your house system (if you have one) to turn the goddamn heating on from your office if you think it's going to be cold when you get home. There's a decent list of extra features you can add here.
So how does the storage work? Can I add spare USB drives lying around? What if one of my drives breaks?
Basically, WHS sets up a software RAID array. If you have 3 drives say, and you add all of them to the WHS storage pool, they effectively merge to become 1 big super-drive. however, due to the redundancy mentioned, if 1 of your drives fail, most, if not all of your data should still be in tact. I'm running WHS with an old laptop (nice and quiet, nice and small operation) with an 80GB HD which has 4 external drives totalling 850GB attatched, and WHS simply tells me I have 930GB of storage. Now, a quick note about adding existing drives to the pool. If you wanted to add a new drive with data on, you have to format it first. But don't worry, WHS recognises the new drive as a seperate entity to the storage pool, so you can connect the drive up, transfer the files to the storage pool, then format the drive and add it to the storage pool you just transferred the files to. Odd, I know, but it works. "But the earlier part mentioned headless operation! How on earth do you control the thing?" I hear you cry. Ladies and Gents, allow me to introduce the WHS Console.
This program installs onto the PCs on your network and automatically searches for the server. Once connected, it allows you to control almost every facet of the server's operation. It allows you to add the drives, change or add users, look at which PCs are connected and their general health (firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware status, etc) and control whatever add-ins you may have installed.
As I said earlier, I installed this on an old Dell Inspiron 5150. A P4 2.66GHz, 512MB RAM and a 55GB HD. It works nice and speedy, and quiet... now. I had trouble at first because the minimum spec told me I HAD to have an 80GB or greater internal storage device. The installer wouldn't let me continue without installing a bigger drive. Luckily I had one spare in my Tablet so after a re-jig of the important files and a quick image, i swapped the drives out and installed WHS without a hitch. The specs, if you were wondering are as follows:
Note: 100Mbps WIRED ethernet. I use 1Gbps for less strain via a 1Gbps CardBus adapter for the Dell, and I can imagine that the new N standard would also be acceptable, but I've heard that WHS will simply not allow you to use wireless. There is no support for it. I guess you could use an wireless access point and connect the server to that, tricking it into thinking it's wired.
That's about all I've got at the moment. Got to get to work again soon, so I may update the OP with any more information that is needed. I hope my first post has been acceptable, feel free to slate me otherwise! I've been using it for about a week now, and especially since the DivX update hit my Xbox, it's been an absolutely fantastic piece of kit. One word of warning, at the moment the backup facility and WHS console is not able to work on x64 based OSes (WinXP64, Vista 64), but the shared folders can still be accessed via the usual windows fileshares.
Windows Home Server is a home server operating system from Microsoft. Announced on January 7, 2007 at the Consumer Electronics Show by Bill Gates, Windows Home Server is intended to be a solution for homes with multiple connected PCs to offer file sharing, automated backups, and remote access.[3][4] It is based on Windows Server 2003 SP2.[5]
Windows Home Server was released to manufacturing on July 16, 2007
Fair enough, you've grabbed my attention thus far. You've released a product that does what I need at £80 more than the price I can struggle through getting for free with linux. But I'm lazy, and the hours I work mean that £80 isn't too much of a stretch to save me weeks configuring my free server. So, I read on, and saw the list of features, hoping something would pop out and scream at me "Buy me now!"
Features
Centralized Backup - Allows backup up to 10 PCs, using Single Instance Store technology to avoid multiple copies of the same file, even if that file exists on multiple PCs.
Health Monitoring - Can centrally track the health of all PCs on the network, including antivirus and firewall status.
File Sharing - Offers network shares for computers to store the files remotely, acting as a network-attached storage device. Separate categories are provided for common file types like Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos. The files are indexed for fast searching.
Printer Sharing - Allows a centralized print server to handle print jobs for all users.
Previous Versions - Takes advantage of Volume Shadow Copy Services to take point in time snapshots that allow older versions of files to be recovered.
Headless Operation - No monitor or keyboard attached to the device itself, much like a firewall or router.
Remote administration - Provides a client UI to remotely perform administrative tasks. Also allows Remote Desktop connections to the server.
Remote Access Gateway - Allows access to any PC on the network from outside the home.
Media Streaming - Can stream media to a Xbox 360 or other devices supporting Windows Media Connect.
Data redundancy - Guards against a single drive failure by duplicating data across multiple drives.
Expandable Storage - Provides a unified single and easily expandable storage space, removing the need for drive letters.
Extensibility through Add-Ins - Add-Ins allow third-party developers to extend the features and functionality of the server. Add-Ins can be developed using the Windows Home Server SDK, to provide additional services to the client computers or work with the data already on the server. Add-Ins can also be ASP.NET applications, hosted in IIS 6 running on WHS.
Basically, what I wanted from a server before I even heard of this, was a centralised place in the home of 3 PCs, 2 laptops and 2 Xbox 360's that I could store all my music, video, pictures and documents that was compatible with the Xbox 360 I recently purchased (after the DivX / Xvid announcement) and that would provide backups of the home PCs regularly (I have a reverse-midas touch with computers, I seem to be able to break them very easily indeed). However, I do a lot of travelling to go and see my girlfriend who lives 100 miles away from where I do. Not only that, but my brother and I both go to university, so access to upload and download files to the server whilst we are away would be incredibly useful...
Remote Access
The system also offers an SSL secured web browser based interface over the Internet to the shared file stores. The release version promises access to the web interface via a free Windows Live-provided URL. The web interface also allows the uploading to and downloading of files from the content stores. However, there is a limit of 2 GB for a single batch of upload.
The system also acts as an RDP gateway, allowing remote control over the internet of supported internal machines on the home network over the internet. Currently supported systems are those which would normally support Remote Desktop: Windows XP Professional, Tablet and Media Center editions and Windows Vista Business and Ultimate editions. The web interface also supports embedding the Remote Desktop ActiveX control, to provide remote access to home computers from within the web interface directly. Remote sessions can also connect to the Home Server console to configure the server over the internet.
Computer Backup
Windows Home Server Computer Backup automatically backs up all of the computers in a home to the server using an image-based system that ensures point-in-time-based restoration of either entire PCs or specific files and folders. This technology uses Volume Shadow Services (VSS) technology on the client computer to take an image based backup of a running computer. Because the backup operates on data at the cluster level, single instancing can be performed to minimize the amount of data that travels over the network and that will ultimately be stored on the home server. This single instancing gives the server the ability to store only one instance of data, no matter if the data originated from another computer, another file, or even data within the same file.
This is even better than I wanted. Not only do I have access to the files and folders shared on the server, but if any of my computers are on I can use remote desktop from wherever I am to use them if I wanted to get round an internet filter, find a file that isn't shared on the server, set up a virus scan, disk defrag, whatever. But what if the computer you need to access isn't on? What about using it to download torrents to save you leaving your power hungry gaming rig on? What about x feature that is missing that you need to do y? This is where Add-ins come in. Add-ins are modules you can install to enable extra features that not everyone needs. There's an add-in that allows control over Wake-on-LAN for you networked PCs, one that controls torrents remotely, turns your server into the router and DHCP server, hell, there's add-ins that can link to your house system (if you have one) to turn the goddamn heating on from your office if you think it's going to be cold when you get home. There's a decent list of extra features you can add here.
So how does the storage work? Can I add spare USB drives lying around? What if one of my drives breaks?
Drive Extender
Windows Home Server Drive Extender is a file-based replication system that provides three key capabilities:
Multi-disk redundancy so that if any given disk fails, data is not lost
Arbitrary storage expansion by supporting any type of hard disk drive (Serial ATA, USB, FireWire etc.) in any mixture and capacity
A single folder namespace (no drive letters)
Users (specifically those who configure a family's home server) deal with storage at two levels: Shared Folders and Disks. The only concepts relevant regarding disks is whether they have been "added" to the home server's storage pool or not and whether the disk appears healthy to the system or not. This is in contrast with Windows' Logical Disk Manager which requires a greater degree of technical understanding in order to correctly configure a RAID array.
Shared Folders have a name, a description, permissions, and a flag indicating whether duplication (redundancy) is on or off for that folder.
If duplication is on for a Shared Folder (which is the default on multi-disk Home Server systems and not applicable to single disk systems) then the files in that Shared Folder are duplicated and the effective storage capacity is halved. However, in situations where a user may not want data duplicated (e.g. TV shows that have been archived to a Windows Home Server from a system running Windows Media Center), Drive Extender provides the capability to not duplicate such files if the server is short on capacity or manually mark a complete content store as not for duplication.
Basically, WHS sets up a software RAID array. If you have 3 drives say, and you add all of them to the WHS storage pool, they effectively merge to become 1 big super-drive. however, due to the redundancy mentioned, if 1 of your drives fail, most, if not all of your data should still be in tact. I'm running WHS with an old laptop (nice and quiet, nice and small operation) with an 80GB HD which has 4 external drives totalling 850GB attatched, and WHS simply tells me I have 930GB of storage. Now, a quick note about adding existing drives to the pool. If you wanted to add a new drive with data on, you have to format it first. But don't worry, WHS recognises the new drive as a seperate entity to the storage pool, so you can connect the drive up, transfer the files to the storage pool, then format the drive and add it to the storage pool you just transferred the files to. Odd, I know, but it works. "But the earlier part mentioned headless operation! How on earth do you control the thing?" I hear you cry. Ladies and Gents, allow me to introduce the WHS Console.
This program installs onto the PCs on your network and automatically searches for the server. Once connected, it allows you to control almost every facet of the server's operation. It allows you to add the drives, change or add users, look at which PCs are connected and their general health (firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware status, etc) and control whatever add-ins you may have installed.
As I said earlier, I installed this on an old Dell Inspiron 5150. A P4 2.66GHz, 512MB RAM and a 55GB HD. It works nice and speedy, and quiet... now. I had trouble at first because the minimum spec told me I HAD to have an 80GB or greater internal storage device. The installer wouldn't let me continue without installing a bigger drive. Luckily I had one spare in my Tablet so after a re-jig of the important files and a quick image, i swapped the drives out and installed WHS without a hitch. The specs, if you were wondering are as follows:
Minimum system requirements:
The following minimum specs are needed:
1.0 GHz Intel Pentium 3 (or equivalent) processor
512 MB RAM
80 GB internal hard drive as primary drive
100 Mbit/s wired Ethernet
Additionally, the following are required for software installation only
Bootable DVD drive
Display
Keyboard and mouse
Note: 100Mbps WIRED ethernet. I use 1Gbps for less strain via a 1Gbps CardBus adapter for the Dell, and I can imagine that the new N standard would also be acceptable, but I've heard that WHS will simply not allow you to use wireless. There is no support for it. I guess you could use an wireless access point and connect the server to that, tricking it into thinking it's wired.
That's about all I've got at the moment. Got to get to work again soon, so I may update the OP with any more information that is needed. I hope my first post has been acceptable, feel free to slate me otherwise! I've been using it for about a week now, and especially since the DivX update hit my Xbox, it's been an absolutely fantastic piece of kit. One word of warning, at the moment the backup facility and WHS console is not able to work on x64 based OSes (WinXP64, Vista 64), but the shared folders can still be accessed via the usual windows fileshares.
JCSheffield on
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At first it seems like you're going to ask if this is worth it, then you post a screenshot and tell us how much it rocks.
Microsoft whoring ftw?
The exception is software RAID, because that is a hell of a faff to set up.
Basically though, if you want to stream to your 360 it doesn't seem like a bad option, but I believe it's also possible to do that from various versions of Windows without overhauling your entire network infrastructure in the process.
Software RAID is trivially easy to configure on some distros (Fedora).
I'll take your word for that. I've never tried it personally, because I've never come across an easy way to do it in Ubuntu.
Media streaming to 360 can now be done using uShare and possibly other media streaming services. Also, openfiler is a linux distribution built with the sole purpose of file sharing and backups. It can be configured remotely via a web interface. However, it doesnt look like openfiler comes with any media streaming services, so they would need to be installed manually.
My Backlog
Super Saver Comics!
I was not aware of this. When I finally get around to getting a 360, this means it actually stands a decent chance of going in the living room and replacing my Xbox running XBMC. Intriguing.
Congratulations I guess... It really does seem like whore post. I haven't met an unfriendly linux forum in a while. If you are a rude, self centered twat in one, you'll know it quick but otherwise they are like any other forum. I'm pretty sure everything you've mentioned there can be done in Linux without much hassle at all.
Yeah, it does read like a marketing shill post. Especially this part:
Which has pretty much been Microsoft's defense against linux in the server market all along(that and, "linux steals our patents that we refuse to disclose and you could be sued!!!"). What they dont mention is that the major distros are supported by companies that sell technical support. This is normally at lower rates than Microsoft charges in addition to not having to pay for individual licenses. In fact, normally the pay distros(SUSE/Novell and Red Hat) only cost money because they are packaged with a professionally-made installation disc, a manual and a support contract. But I'm digressing here.
Anyway, I agree that its rare for linux forums to be unfriendly, let alone hostile. Especially when you follow some pretty simple guidelines:
-Check the documentation first before asking a question! Every linux distro worth its salt has installation guides, manuals, and often wikis chock full of helpful information and guides. Also, because of the modularity and use of peer-reviewed standards, guides for other distros can often help you as well. As an Ubuntu user, I've found the Gentoo wiki to be extremely helpful for certain things. Especially for custom xorg config info to get my mouse and keyboard's extra buttons to work properly.
-Post pertinent information, like your system specs or at least the model number of your computer. Dont expect everyone to be experts at your particular hardware.
-Dont whine, or flame. You are coming to them for help, people are less receptive if you bitch at them. Also, noone is being paid to help you, its done out of generosity. Some are generous to the point where they will write out shell scripts just to help people out. Try to ignore the anonymity of the internet and remember you are dealing with real people.
-Dont expect instant answers, its a forum, not a chatroom. Which brings me to my last point:
-IRC, where you can often get answers extremely quickly, but can be a hotbed of idiots and assholes. This is its own animal, and I hear the most horror stories coming from this. However, I'd bet there are tons of channels where this is not the case, so dont discriminate about an entire group based experiences at a few chatrooms or forums.
In my opinion, its better to spend the money on a larger HD or more RAM or something to improve the system's capabilities, and then to use a distro thats tailor-made to do what you want. Each distro has its own strengths and weaknesses in certain areas. For example, Ubuntu excels in user-friendliness and ease of use as a desktop or server OS. However, it is not optimized. Gentoo is the complete opposite, every bit of it is customizable and can be as optimized as you want it. The cost of this is it can be extremely complex and time-consuming to implement. However, these and the other major distros are often very open and still suffer from being a jack-of-all-trades. This is where the smaller distros succeed. Openfiler is a great NAS distro, Mythbuntu and Knoppmyth are great PVR distros. DSL, DSL-N and DeLi linux are great uses for really weak hardware. Before wasting time trying to make a distro do something it wasnt meant for, do some research and find something that does exactly what you want and spend your time focusing on that.
My Backlog
Super Saver Comics!
Admittedly I work with computers but I don't think it was that hard to set up.
Originally I just accessed it through the VMWare serve console, and ssh. Then when I wanted to add SMB and FTP, that got annoying, so I installed the graphical desktop, and logged into it remotely from either my desktop or laptop (there's an option on the login screen in Ubuntu).
Set up SMB shares and FTP access with gadmintools, and installed Simple Backup on my other machines, set to backup to an SMB share. XBMC will play files off the share, and all my music and a good few DVDs and such are on there as well. At the moment, it's just running on leftover hardware and a couple of spare disks, but I have plans to make it the back end to a MythTV setup, with a dinky little VIA EPIA based front end, but I think that may tax it somewhat.
I do believe there are plans afoot for an Ubuntu Home Server edition as well.
But hey, let's ignore the advantages and then talk at length about the subset of features that linux does have.
Oh and someone posting an informed and enthusiastic OP about something does not make them a "____ whore."
Yes, with LVM.
I believe so, or at least can't see any reason why not.
I don't know what you mean by a "single-instance" backup.
Yes, depending on what you want it to do. If you mean specifically to do this, probably not.
No need for hostility, it just seems whore-ish because this is the dudes only post ever, he joined recently, hasn't followed up the OP with any discussion and doesn't seem to be asking any questions.
I can see the advantages, but I think most people here are pretty technically inclined, so wouldn't really have any issue with "rolling their own" of this kind of thing. At the very least, I'd begrudge paying for it.
This looks like an interesting idea, but the biggest test is always: Will it be easy and effective enough to work in practice? Or in other words, after I set it up, will my family actually USE it? This the biggest problem with any sort of home networking product. Everything has to be just so or else it will go unused. At my house, we can stream music from the computer to the home stereo using only the TV remote. My sister still goes in to the next room, turns the PC speakers up way too loud and then blasts music. When my mom wants to listen, she asks my sister to go in the next room and blast the speakers because she doesn't even want to touch the computer. I think I'm the only one who has ever used the direct wireless music playback on the main stereo even though I showed everyone else how to use it. Even though it's easy (one remote, one menu that they use all the time to work the DVR). Even though they seemed excited at the prospect when I showed them.
I would liken it to posting an informative post on a new game that came out, with screenshots, about a game an OP might find fun. Doesn't make it whoring.
Anyway, here's a question... why would someone need a server like this for a home network?
File sharing, printer sharing, remote access, backup, I can do all of these things with freeware apps on the web, on regular WinXP.
I don't know what uShare is but apparently you can stream to a 360 with that..
Why would someone need something this sophisticated for a home network?
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
From what I can tell LVM may have some capabilites of expanding drives, but I'd hardly call it "slapping a drive on" to get extra data-redundant storage. But if it's got a GUI app where you can just look at the health of all your drives, select duplication on folders, and add/remove storage easily, then sure.
Single instance backup is explained in the OP, but I guess that would require reading the post.
Anyway, a good bit of the value this gives you is the ability to set up a functional, robust server without the hassle.
That's fair. I don't hate the product, and I'm definitely not looking for a pissing contest. It's just that the price just seems pretty steep (to me) for what it is.
Really it depends how you define hassle. I personally would rather spend a few hours setting up something that met my needs for the cost of the hardware alone (which is exactly what I did), than spend the money. I do admit that what I set up isn't, and probably would never be, functionally identical to that in the OP, but if you really needed a home server, I think most people would have a purpose for it in mind before they started setting it up, whereas this doesn't seem to be aimed at anyone in particular.
I set mine up to do one thing, and added functionality as it became useful, rather than deciding that I was going to "server-ise" my network.
Who is this ad campaign for?
The setup of Microsoft products is never the hard part.. working with them when something goes bad later is when the real frustration shows up.
Which could mean it's actually complete crap and the likes of of Cnet and Tom's want to see people buy it and be disappointed.
No, I mean the maintenance as well. For example when a drive goes bad it says so on control software. If you've got a MediaSmart home server it lights up a red LED next to the bad drive.
It's the hip thing to do in G&T. I hate it.
I actually have a use for WHS so I plan on setting one up.
I used to be the kind of guy who loved to tinker and screw with possible Linux solutions or otherwise for stuff like this... and it certainly helped me gain some experience that I use at my job every day...
... but honestly... like I said... I do this stuff every day at work
I work in an IT department that is actually busy all the time trying to expand and streamline our ERP system, R&D new ideas... and basically solve any number of problems associated with trying to keep a company that relies heavily on data up and running.
When I get home... the last thing I want to do is 'go to work' on something that I could buy. It's the same reason people buy Roombas instead of picking up a broom every day.
What attracted me to it was just how simple it was. No downloading packages. No writing my own scripts (or searching for pre-written ones). It just works. I set up a user account for my other half earlier and she can now access my server from firefox at her house with no hassle, just a username and login. I'd hate to have to explain Linux to her and to be honest I'd be ashamed to let her know how much of a geek I can be!
So, I have to structure my OP better? Ask more questions, be clearer in my intent? Thanks for the help, though I apologise for irking the linux crowd here.
The only people who're interested in this kind of stuff already use one of the linux distros or one of the bsds.
Which is why home server fails, while it's great for a fixed subset of things there will always be that something that a techie/nerd will want that this simply doesn't offer. Whether it's Appletalk support, or a free price tag.. or simply the fact that it can be tweaked, windows home server simply doesn't have that tweakability that linux and the bsds offers.
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
Thinking about this, I can actually see this selling to people who aren't technically inclined, because there is genuine usefulness there. For that to work, though, it has to be absolutely idiot-proof, and Microsoft would need to market the shit out of it.
Think of it as an iPod style product. When the iPod became popular, digital music players were pretty much de riguer among techies (people like us), but weren't something that appealed to the mainstream, either because they didn't "get it" or because of the perceived difficulty of using those products.
With the iPod, lots of people in "the mainstream" who wouldn't have ever thought of carrying all their music around at once bought it because of Apple repeatedly banging on about how great it was, and making it as simple as possible to do.
That aside, some of the features do look interesting, and it is a lesser known product that I think would definitely have a niche in many media centric homes. It also has a couple of features like being able to check the status of the client machines that you can't do with the same level of precision using Linux. If I were running a homogeneous network and needed the bulk of that functionality, I would definitely choose it over a more expensive Windows server solution.
Microsoft doesn't pay people to post on forums; you're just being a paranoid douche.
That sounds like just the kind of thing a Microsoft Shill would say, if you ask me.
EDIT: Actually, serious question. How does the Health Monitoring thing work? Like, what sort of info does it keep track of?
Oh, and to the person that asked me why I had to log in to the server, do you often leave your server, which is accessable by a simple webpage completely password un-protected? You can create up to 10 users which have variable access rights to the functions of the server remotely, given that they use a strong password (more than 7 characters, at least 1 letter of a different case and at least 1 number)
I've been satisfied with the progress they've been able to do with it. It's iggest weakness is lack of a 64-bit client, which only affects one of my computers (Should be addressed next year though), however the main reason I got it was strictly for data redundancy, currently it has a backup of my Wife's laptop, and is in the process of making a backup of my Media Center PC (Admittedly in progress for almost 2 days now, but you need to admit that 1.1TB of data over a wireless network would take a while....)
The most useful feature about it is the fact that it maintains a Dynamic DNS address for "free" (You bought WHS, better be free!) which allows you to connect to the Home Server console from anywehre, additionally you can use it to trigger remote desktop connections to any other properly configured machines on your network....
You can check out my WHS homepage
What makes it really useful is the Add-Ins... Someone above me complained about the lack of temp gauges and other odds and ends, you wont need to wait long for someone to cook up a homebrew add-in that'll do that for you.... Currently I use Whiist, which is what adds links to my home page on the right side, it'll also allow you to easily create a photo album, which I'm working on as well.... Among other things....
It makes life easy for me, and it's made it really easy for some time now...
Movie Collection
Foody Things
Holy shit! Sony's new techno toy!
Wii Friend code: 1445 3205 3057 5295
O_o
I was saying his post read like it was posted by Shillington McShillington Esq. Not that it was.
And frankly, Microsoft as well as plenty of other companies have engaged in this stuff via third party marketing firms plenty of times. So can you honestly blame me for being the slightest bit suspicious of his motives?
To say that Microsoft doesn't engage in this sort of thing is naivete of the highest order, welcome to the real world where companies do all sorts of stupid stuff online.
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
Admittedly it's drive temp, but as Nakatomi said, it's probabily not long before someone links RivaTuner, nVidia nTune/AMD Overdrive, CPU-Z, MBM5.0, Speedfan, et al to the WHS console
GET OVER IT.
Oh dear.. someone used schestowitz as a reference, hahahah. If there is something a geek wants that isn't there by default he can add it in himself.. like so many people have done already and there's an expanding community of people doing it.
For example, here's a guy who made a µTorrent addon: http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1717779&SiteID=50
This one made one to share media with his TiVo or something: http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1860790&SiteID=50
And this one for wake on LAN: http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1545562&SiteID=50
Actually, check out this site for a ton of them, like:
Home Base (Use Windows Mobile to do thins on your WHS)
ipsHomeControl (Control various home automation tasks)
On The Fly Unzipper (Automatically unzip files)
Photosync for Windows Home Server (Flickr syncing)
Whiist (Create and manage simple sites)
Xbox Community Feeds
So yeah, despite you claiming geeks can't do things which aren't there by default, they can. With an easy to use and well known SDK too. Well, I have no idea if those 2 gave it favourable reviews but I know others did.. and that's the most retarded reason for giving a product a favourable review I have ever read.
Some reviews:
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/467/Microsoft+Windows+Home+Server/
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/Windows-Home-Server-the-Ars-Technica-review.ars
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/windows-home-server/windows-home-server-review-317502.php
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=244
Really though, I bet you're right, these guys all just did it just to see people buy it and be disappointed. I mean, it's not like they did really extensive reviews and have valid reasons as to why it's a worthy purchase, nah, they just went "Yeah, it's like super rad, go buy it lolol." I'm sorry for even mentioning favourable reviews.
40 lashes, hmm?