Well lets see I've got 2 desktops and 3 laptops, and a nifty 1TB standalone drive... even if your not handy spend $30-50 and get Network Magic which will -- without hassels on 2000/XP/Vista set up a home network in seconds and allow you to obtain anything from any computer plus share printers and other items. But to be truthful, Yea I'd buy the server but I can think of other things to do with $600.

It's not just a file share. Network Magic and a 1TB drive won't even begin to cover it.

"But to be truthful, Yea I'd buy the server but I can think of other things to do with $600."

That's the point. Take out the cost of the 1TB standalone(~$400) and the NetWork Magic($30-$60) app and you've got yourself a deal.

You know if this idea was introduced by Apple, people alot of opinions in here would change.

People downplay WHS yet they start to orgasm over a windows xp based, OSX "time machine"?

A lot of you are missing the point. Many people out there need (but don't know it) a NAS, ok? So.. the average NAS with 1 TB costs 500 bucks or more. That is just a Networked storage. This takes the NAS idea one step further. Also HP's implimentation adds extra functionality on top of the great features of the WHS. for 600 bucks you get 500GB with room for 3 more drives. It's the right price point with a functionality that almost everyone with 2 home computers needs (even though they mostly don't realize it...).

Awww...but you could do that with just a one line DOS batch file.... ;)

I'm still chuckling over that one :D

Hey, if text-wrap is turned on, it could be, like, a *really* long line...

Right?

*laughs*

im not knocking MS, and i dont have any problem spending the money if i wanted to - my point is - that not most "home users" (and a parent!!) , the last thing i want around my house - is another box, when all most home users want to do is share a few mp3, or avi with another member of the family in another room - spending >$600 i wont justify , - if however i was running a small business from home then probably you could - so i think the question should be "who is this box aimed at?" - not the average home user/parent - who doesnt have an open cheque book (after he has alread paid for broadband/software/hardware/toners , and doesnt really want a home full of electric guzzling flashing boxes

"not the average home user/parent - who doesnt have an open cheque book (after he has alread paid for broadband/software/hardware/toners , and doesnt really want a home full of electric guzzling flashing boxes"

The average home user this is targeted at already has 3 boxes, a library of media, and all sorts of personal memorabilia stored on their PCs, but little knowledge of how to make them easily accessible, or secure against hardware failure.

The average home user of this category probably does have $600, if not more, for what this "box" can afford them.

It's great you don't need it. But claiming you are "most home users" while posting on BetaNews? You'll excuse me if I don't believe that for a second...

So, to give some perspective. I do side work building and installing home media systems. I have had more customers of mine asking about what this Home Server is and is it worth it to them. I have already had 3 pre-orders to replace Media Center systems I installed a year ago. There was no pre-selling on my part, simply word of mouth at the office and/or their own kids and friends telling them about it.

People are willing to buy this because it does fill a need that is present in the home user community.

Most home users don't have the first clue about setting up Server2K3 and most don't want to know. They want to buy it, plug it in, click a few buttons (the fewer, the better) and have it work like their cable box or their toaster oven. WHS provides that to them (mostly). Add to that the automated backups, ease of adding drives, and public accesibility and you have a product that will sell better than Media Center ever did.

Now if they could just add some more media center capabilities (internet streaming, etc).

Decent product, worthy of a 1.0, can't wait to see what 2.0 pulls off. (Or the user community with the addins, for that matter. "Webguide" is already making excellent progress.)

i think "not understanding" w2k servers - still doesnt justify spending $600 to back up files - go to your local pc store or get a tachy to visit - itsave hunderds , and is onle less picoes of equipment to look after - uless of courrse in the US people just like to spend hundreds of dollars because its superior - in the uk - we spend what we need to to do a job

Okay. Look...

We're not saying that other options don't exist. That would be stupid.

So would discounting the amount people are willing to pay to not ever have to learn about, worry about, or ever be more than only remotely involved in anything resembling work.

While setting up file shares, Dynamic DNS, automatic backups and such may be easy for us, there is a market (a big one) for folks to have it done for them...without having to call the tech, without having to do much more than plug in a system.

If you think, for one second, that this is a US vs. UK issue, you're dead wrong. People pay big money for "ease" every day, and FYI...the folks in Europe were doing it long before us hicks in the US.

Christ... I can't believe you even threw in the UK/US bit. Are you trying to be an elitist snob, or does it come naturally?

well lets just hope your local garage doesnt suggest you buy a new car when you have a problem with the engine, all because you are not a mechanic and dont know better -

all im suggesting is that for most home users - a bit of file sharing and backing up - involves right clicking and "share" - justifying spending ANY amount of money under the excuse "they dont know better" to me is ripping people off (ms/local pc store/or anyone) - it would be more cost effective to a techy to spend an hour putting in a 320+gig drive, sharing it - doing a few drive mappings - which achieves exactly the same - Dyndns is FREE ! - and involves spending 5 mins creating an account: again better value to ask advise to get someone to do : to have a complete server in a home environment is over kill for $600 - when 1 hour of help does it

by the way

zip c:\*.* \\192.168.2.2\c:\pc1\*.*
oops well there you go - worth all $600 dollars!! - but then again the new pc does have pretty lights

i guess you can do a more advanced options and pay $25 for norton ghost, and if you cant set it up - ask a neighbour, for the cost of a beer

or are we doing all this for the cost of employing technicians to type in the commands :)

wel im spending my saved $600 on a holiday instead - knowing that the control panel task manager will run my one line batch file, back up my whole pc - while im on a beach..

not knowing how to do something , is no excuse for charging someone >$600 to do $100 worth of work

unless you are a rich american ! - try using the money to Bomb Microsoft, rather than pissing off the rest of the world

all im suggesting is that for most home users - a bit of file sharing and backing up - involves right clicking and "share"

Dude. I understand. The problem is that most home users *DON'T*. Nor do they *WANT* to. You have a very odd view of "most home users".

"justifying spending ANY amount of money under the excuse "they dont know better""

I don't know how to build a car, I guess the dealership is ripping me off...

Look, it's not that they don't know better. It's simply that they would rather spend their time on things they actually enjoy. We enjoy putzing with computers. I do not enjoy putzing with cars, however, and gladly pay folks to change my oil, break pads, etc. Many mechanics probably think I'm getting ripped off. Hell, I probably am. Thing is, the time I save and can then spend doing things I enjoy is worth what I pay to have someone else minkey around witht he car.

That's all I am trying to say. we're in the minority here, brad. Most folks would pay good money to never have to touch a computer, much less configure one for sharing/backup/dynamic dns/etc...

As for:

zip c:\*.* \\192.168.2.2\c:\pc1\*.*
oops well there you go - worth all $600 dollars!! -

guess you can do a more advanced options and pay $25 for norton ghost, and if you cant setit up - ask a neighbour, for the cost of a beer

You're still missing it. You've never even seen WHS, have you? Believe it or not, it does more than backup your system (into some fugly zip archive, no less) and sahre your files to other local computers.

Take a look at it. Download it from somewhere and install it on some spare hardware (or a virtual machine). Take a look at it. F=urther discussion of the product sight-unseen is pretty pointless since you seem a bit confused on what it can do.

{Edit:}

unless you are a rich american ! - try using the money to Bomb Microsoft, rather than pissing off the rest of the world

Scratch that. You're obviously far too involved in your cute little "hate America" and "hate Microsoft" tantrum for now. Let me know when you're over it (ya know, like when you grow up).

Face it, home server is for suckers like toolie. I couldn't dream this crap up, but Microsoft sees guys like him coming 100 miles away and know they will part with their worthless USDollars as long as they have a foreigner slap a Microsoft label on it.

Jeebus, and yes, I do hate amerika because it sux. Got a problem with that, mr.-I-refuse-to-serve-my-country-in-iraq??

well i guess if someone wants so spend money to give a glorified back up - its their choice - im saying it can be done several ways, a cheap practical way, or a glorified bells and whistles way, and its up to the user if they want to spend $600 to have a pretty screen

as for the various scripting languages that windows uses (of course its own works better) , thats great - espacially if a non-user knows what they are doing

im trying to get a point across that you can either

1 - do this with a 1 line dos batch file
2 - spend >600 to do the same

its the correct thing of me to offer suggestions and alternatives

however i will apologise for knocking the US , it was uncalled for

but ill still stick by my view thats spending hundreds of dollars for no reason apart from ignorance is unaceptable go most home users who just want to share and back up their system when a bit of help and support would suffice who geneally have better things to spend thier money on

ps, im still spending my 600 on a beach and running a 1 line batch file

pps - thank you zridling : we hate you too -

You just DON'T get it, you never have used the product so you don't even know what your talking about, you are basing it on the dollar sign.

Its a lot more then a glorified backup plus you can buy just the software for $180 and use it with an existing pc.

If you believe its just a glorified backup its not geared towards YOU, its geared towards people with multiple pcs, millions of files and is constantly afraid of losing their data.

Setting up a share does not prevent that data from being lost, setting up a share also does not allow the user to easily swap out hdd and add to it. setting up the share also does not allow the average user to be in a completely different state but wishes to watch something or listen to something on their pc via remote access. Yes there are cheap ways to do this, but anything you propose costs the user TIME and that costs A LOT to most people.

There are a lot of things we don't need and you can do free but people don't because it costs TIME.

So they hire a techy to help them and something goes wrong, so now they have to go back to that techy again, and pay more and more and more.

Some of the features listed:

* Your family's digital memories and media organized in one central hub
* Home PCs backed up daily, automatically
* Simple recovery of lost files or even entire PCs
* Complete access from networked PCs to all your Windows Home Server files
* A personalized Web address for sharing your photos and home videos
* Easy and quick setup
* Expandable storage space for future use
* Innovative third-party applications

Again at least try the product before you start assuming what it is.

"well i guess if someone wants so spend money to give a glorified back up"

You're talking two different products here, apparently. WHS is far more than a glorified backup. You obviously haven't used it. Therefore, any comments you may have on it, even regarding alternatives, are useless.

You can not, in any way shape or form, get the features of WHS with a one line batch file. Period, end of story, good night, try the veal.

*poke*

You can't back up your system with a batch file. What about all the files that are locked, or files that need to be in a certain location on the hard disk? Also talk about slow and inefficient, putting everything in a zip file? lmao...

Besides Home Server is so much more than that, trying to imply that's all it does is absurd. It's like saying you can do the same thing as Windows XP with a cheap pocket calculator (because XP has a calculator applet).

You just get cuter and cuter. :)

If someone shakes you, does your hair go all wild?

I get it!

You're following El Dingo's Tips for Trolling!

Sorry it took me so long to figure that one out. Good job on it. You did really well with the whole "talking out of your a** because you actually have no clue what you're yapping about" bit.

Really.

I'm sure he'd be so proud of you.

How many ISP's do not allow you to run a web server?

While that used to be a very valid question, very few are actively blocking port 80 now.

There are still quite a few DSL providers that block port 80. For instance, Quest does, as does Verizon. They have been relaxing it more and more, but it still happens and most all TOCs state explicitly that they do not allow servers to run on your network.

"most all TOCs state explicitly that they do not allow servers to run on your network."

Read closer and I will bet you it specifies DNS servers.

"There are still quite a few DSL providers that block port 80."

I didn't say none of them did, did I? I said the majority of them no longer do.

Even so, if I am not mistaken, WHS allows you to change the port if you need to in "Settings - Remote Access". (haven't tried to do that yet. Could be wrong on this)

yeah, sure the average user knows how to change the ports, use DNS, etc...

LMAO!

WHS is a turd. Only M$ would package up what is already doable in windows for free and sell it for $190.

Had you actually used the product you would see ANYONE can use it.

Still commenting on something you've never seen, used, or even actually dedicated more than 2 seconds of actual thought to?

I believe the others in this thread may be right that you are nothing but an MS troll. Care to prove them wrong?

(Hey, without hope, what's the point?)

You obviously don't know what you're talking about. In those situations it's generally best to just not say anything.

500gig for $600

how about option -1

$100 buy a 320gig internal disk - add it to one of the home pcs on the lan, make the drive shared,
and voila - exactly the same for $500 cheaper

I believe they are selling the system instead just the hard drive.

In the article, it didn't list the system specs. And the price come with support too. I don't know how useful support is, only time I call them is for hardware failure.

ok - option-2 $100 for the drive (im not sure of US drive costs - maybe you can get a 500gig one for £100), add $25 for some backup software - still $475 saving

I still cant see any justification for buying a complete unit (at higher prrice than a normal desktop pc would cost) to allow most home users to do simple file sharing, and backups, which are all curently available on all pcs using xp (or better) , and using a simple router/lan : if people want file sharing on a separate pc, rather than adding a new drive to an existing one - pick up a second hand pc on ebay - and do exactly the same

The M$ drones on here don't want to hear it. Prepare to be flamed and told Home Server is the best thing since sliced bread and how many copies each person will buy.

I'm surprised that wasn't followed by an...

Mac OS X or Linux rules! Screw Microsoft!

Keep those awesome comments coming.

i'm not a drone but I run Win2003 as a home server. It is a good central place to connect backup drivers, printer, scanner, etc and keep it all out of sight.

I can see the less technical crowd wanting to do what I do, but with more wizard type options, auto backups, online storage, etc...

WHS may not be your thing, but I'm sure it will find a niche.

Exactly, mmm?

Shared over the internet? Nope.

Public domain? Nope.

Backs up all connected PCs? Nope.

How then, can you even begin to claim it is "exactly" the same? You were joking, right?

Again with the "exactly".

Try it. Use it. (It's already on P2P and the usenet)

Try to know what it is you are talking about before blindly making patently false claims based solely on your personal complete lack of knowledge regarding the product you apparently think you are qualified to evaluate (sight unseen).

Most of us don't know what hardware cost and don't want the headache when one of them failed. The point is MS attempt to make sharing easy for most of us.

And you are right, $250 for a 500GB is rip off, but this is how they make money from you. Just look at any system, and their upgrade price. But nobody forcing you to buy the upgrade from them.

You can just ignore pltdlng0. He just a MS troll.

I've seen your other posts on this product.

Have you even tried it yet? Wasn't it you that said, in the last WHS thread, "Perhaps you should try it before commenting on it" or something similar?

No offense, but claiming to know other products are better than the one in question carries absolutely no weight when you've never even seen the product in question.

Have you?

bradingram "$100 buy a 320gig internal disk - add it to one of the home pcs on the lan, make the drive shared,
and voila - exactly the same for $500 cheaper"

well their selling the whole system plus the server edition windows os so. it would cost a little more if you do it yourself.

yes you can use regular xp and as you said share the drive and files, but server editions are a little better at this. i have not used or tried the home server edition(hse) so not sure what the spec's are. i am not sure if hse is a totally new os or just a slimmed down version of windows server 2003/2008.

Yeah MAC OS X 10.5 and UBuntu rules! So screw you Micro$oft and all you Ballmer kiss-a** ;-)

That's more like it.

And once again the normal crap from pit$ingo. Get a life troll.

*laughing*

I clicked on the link for the article and the first thing I thought of was "how much crap is pitdingo going to spew this time..."

He is a real class act, not.