Sunday, August 12, 2007

Windows Home Server friendly for digital homes

If you have an old PC lying around at home or are in the process of getting a new one and wondering what to do with the old, you might want to hang on to that old PC a while longer.
If the PC has a 1 GHz or faster processor and 512 MB or more of RAM, add some hard drives and you'll be able to use it for Microsoft's latest groundbreaking product: Windows Home Server.
Microsoft's Bill Gates announced the product in his Jan. 7 keynote address at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show. As the name implies, Windows Home Server is basically a server operating system targeting families with two or more computers in the household.
It has lots of features that makes it very appealing for home users and multimedia aficionados: automatic backups of all connected PCs, sharing documents on the network and on the Internet, and expandable storage space for all those backups and shared files.
"As computers and digital media become more and more central to family life, we need better ways to organize, share and protect digital content and information at home," said Gates.
"Windows Home Server makes it easy for families to save, protect and access digital memories and experiences so they can focus on using technology to organize their day-to-day lives, explore their interests and share their memories with the people they care about."
What makes Windows Home Server different from the media-sharing capabilities built into Windows Media Center, Vista and Windows XP with Windows Media Player 11? Simple -- it offers all they do, and more.
Not only will you able to share files between PCs, they can be put on one machine and automatically backed up, daily and without user interference. Files and data stored in each connected PC will also be backed up daily, so if you ever need to restore files, programs or even the entire system, you simply restore them from the Windows Home Server.
Although the Home Server is based on Windows Server 2003, Microsoft promises the former to be easy to use -- "even for moms" -- while it is powerful enough for even the most jaded power users and enthusiasts. The hardest part about using Windows Home Server is possibly its installation and configuration -- which is, in fact, very easy.
Simply plug into a power source and access the Windows Home Server machine from any PC on the network. True to Microsoft style, easy-to-use Wizards will help you configure the server to your needs. For automatic daily backups, just install the Windows Home Server Connector software on each PC.
In addition to storing daily backups, Windows Home Server also monitors the health of your PCs, scanning for viruses, trojans, malware and spyware, particularly for PCs with Windows Vista.
It works by monitoring the Windows Security Center on each Vista-equipped PC and lets you know if it is secure or not.
Windows XP clients can simply restore a healthy "image" of the PC in question. Remote management features are not available initially, but Microsoft plans to include them in future updates.
Storage management is simplified, so that users do not see one, two or several hard drives. Instead, there's only one storage pool to handle all data, files and backups. The software automatically installs and mounts new hard drives, and replicates data across drives to prevent data loss in the case of a drive failure.
What about compatibility with other operating systems? Shared folders on Windows Home Server can be accessed by other operating systems like Linux and MacOS X, just like a standard Windows shared folder. You can then use the backup features integrated in each operating system, like Time Machine on MacOS X, to save backups to that folder.
For some people, the most intriguing aspect of Windows Home Server is its ability to access Internet files stored on the server. Microsoft provides a free Internet address via Windows Live for each Windows Home Server user, so not only will you be able to access and upload files and documents to your own server, but you can also choose to share them with friends and other Internet users if you want.
And that's not all. At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, Gates demonstrated the Home Server and announced new hardware partners for the upcoming product, which include Gateway Inc., LaCie and Medion International.
More importantly, Microsoft also announced several software vendors that are supporting Windows Home Server. One of these is Embedded Automation Inc, whose mControl software will integrate with Windows Home Server to help consumers manage home lighting systems, security cameras, climate control, and audio and visual components.
Microsoft has shipped the final version of Windows Home Server to its manufacturing and hardware partners on July 16, so the software should be available late this year as hardware bundles for machines like HP MediaSmart Server or those based on AMD's Live! Home Media Server reference design and stand-alone software.
But if you don't want to wait, you could try downloading the Release Candidate version from Microsoft (//connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer) for a 210-day trial period.