Rui CarmoIn case you've been living under a rock today, Bill has announced Windows Home Server.
My take on it? I like it. A lot.
Given that I have a PowerPC mini as my home server, running an iTunes/DAAP server, a few standard SMB file shares and a full-blown SMTP/IMAP server, I have often wondered why Apple charges US$500 (or something) for Mac OS X Server's entry-level licensing.
All things considered, they should freeze the current feature set, throw in iTV support and toss it out on the street (with, say, a 5 user license) for a small amount atop current Mac OS X pricing, but without any of the iLife stuff (or any other bundled software whatsoever).
Maybe the iTV will turn out to be something like this, but I'd love to have something that could deal with proper - i.e., TB-sized - storage and e-mail as well. Only time will tell (but, considering that Apple has a blind spot the size of Jupiter when it comes to business computing, I expect that they won't be interested in SOHO/SME offerings). Maybe consumer-oriented media enablers is all we'll ever get from Apple.
Anyway, Microsoft has taken the lead in that market, as far as I'm concerned. Which is interesting, considering that Apple was the one company that succeeded in turning computers into proper media hubs, and now Microsoft sidesteps the issue and, thinking "outside the box", tosses another box into the ring.
Let's see if storage appliances (like the Linksys box that was launched this weekend or so) will step up to the plate.
Because I will be getting one of those to replace my NSLU2, if only because I'm fed up with having two power bricks and a bunch of external cables dedicated to the same purpose.