Windows Home Server RTM

Windows Home Server has RTM'ed

I think Windows Home Server is one of the most significant products to come out in recent times.  It's a product that so many friends of mine *need* although maybe they don't realize it yet.

Digital cameras for photos and videos are awesome, but for most people these just create value data archives that nobody is really responsible for maintaining.  The average consumer doesn't really think about the consequences of data loss, and yet they're putting more and more valuable, irreplaceable data on their computers. 

At least with film there were negatives; today your digital negatives are right there on the same, vulnerable physical disk that your digital prints are.

Windows Home Server is seamless backup for the computers on your home network.  It works.  It solves a real problem, and does it well.  It's destined to become yet another appliance every home should have, like a dishwasher or a toaster oven.

Unless they price it out of the ballpark.  That's the one thing that could kill it.  A network backup appliance for $200 would do really well; a network backup appliance for $900?  Not so well.

This is something the OEMs control, though it is somewhat dependent on the pricing that Microsoft uses for WHS.  I don't believe they've announced this yet, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what they say.

(Bummer of the week:  According to an MS dude on the Server Playground forums, WHS won't be on MSDN.  Bummer).