Free Computer Consultant ………. Daily Insights

Microsoft never misses a chance to really torque me off with their “home” versions of Windows. Windows Vista Home Premium is fine for most people – at home, but it lacks two features that I see no justification in leaving out.

Vista Home Premium does not allow remote control via remote desktop. This is an exceptionally handy feature, especially for someone trying to help you out (potentially) and becomes a real advantage if you buy a Windows Home Server.  Why leave this feature out (other than to torque me off)?

And Windows complete backup and restore. Come on, even if you don’t like it as a tool, doesn’t it sound good to say that you have included a complete backup and restore utility in your product? Seems like good PR to me.

If it weren’t for the price issue, and it is an issue – you don’t get much extra for the price, I would just load Ultimate on everything. Ok, so Bitlocker is a valuable feature; most won’t use it anyway, so why not just give it to them?

Microsoft needs ONE version of Windows for the workstation. Price it to sell, not be stolen. Then watch your customers line up to buy it with a smile on their face. That would be something new for Microsoft, wouldn’t it?

Windows Home Server is advancing on track and due out sometime this fall.

My prediction: It won’t be just for the home.

I can see this product ending up in small offices where maybe an attorney or two and a secretary or two might finally get serious about sharing files and backing up data.

These offices probably could afford me to come in with Microsoft Small Business Server, it would offer them a lot of advantages. But many of these professionals are just too cheap for that. I’m sorry, stingy; I mean frugal. You get the idea. (They use Yahoo! email accounts, now that’s professiona!)

Where Small Business Server is designed to be easy to manage, Windows Home Server is designed to require practically no management at all.

Will it deliver on this goal? I think it has a good chance. Doesn’t mean they won’t call someone like me every few months to check on it or answer a question, but it will probably run unattended in a closet quite nicely.

It will probably be the first time these offices have had anything close to a proper storage of their data.