Ok , there has been much bashing about all that comes out from Microsoft, though some critics are valid we will try to stay away from this subject here. I have been a beta tester for Windows Home Server since day 1, and I still remember the excitement at the time coz Microsoft answered my wish . I swear I had no idea at that time that they would be coming up with the Home Server.Now that its out and i have installed it and using it, i must admit, the level of satisfaction I got is way higher that with Vista.My wish at that time was to consolidate all the tons of movies, pictures  and home-made videos into one location and share it with streaming capabilities across the 3 PCs and 1 laptop that I use and also to share some files with friends.Not to mention to have an easy and convenient remote control access over the net instead of using VPN which  a non technical person like me don't like.

I know , you would say why didn't you try NAS.At that time networked Hard Disk (NAS) wasn't easily available and the price was ridiculously high.Though, i got one later( i am not 100% satisfied with it yet). We shall talk about the difference between NAS and NDAS in a later article as i am digressing too much now.

Ok..some people would be prefer to get the OEM pre-built server from the like of HP at Futureshop and BestBuy for $600-800.But as i had spare computers at home, i decided to build a box from scratch and all i can say is that its should be running faster than the OEM ones. I converted an old emachines Athlon 64 3500+ with 2GB Ram + on board memory plus i inserted some Hard Drives( 2x 250GB IDE + 1 500GB SATA). I also inserted a new Gigabit network card( to benefit from my new Dlink DIR 655 router :-)

The system is running like a marvel and now all my PCs are backed up automatically at night, my selected pictures are sync automatically to Flickr and the best of all...drum roll please....I can stream videos, music and work on my files all stored at one location. The Windows Home server has answered all my wish...well except doing the laundry but who knows may be in the future may i can even remotely start the laundry with it...ok ok i am digressing again.

Last note, though the server is supposed to be headless, well as I don't like headless stuffs, I am using a KVM switch to access the server when needs be( rarely as you can do everything from the console on your PC).  So a year after launch, I must say this is one of those few advertise product that is living up to the expectation....