Coming Home to Windows Home Server Part 38: WHS 2011 is here!
Apr 4, 2011 11:16 AM,
by Eric B. Rux
“Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?”
Last Tuesday, Microsoft announced that the Home Server team “signed off” and released the product to manufacturing. Can I get a WOOT WOOT?!
What does this mean for us? In short, it won’t be long until we can get our hands on this release via an evaluation download. As of this writing, WHS version 1 is still prominently displayed on the download page, so clearly the marketing folks haven’t caught up yet. We should be able to download WHS 2011 in “early April”.
For those of you that have TechNet or MSDN subscriptions, you should be able to download your copy in early April as well.
If you’re not really the “home brew” type and would rather purchase a plug and play Home Server, you can expect to see pre-built Home Servers by summer, if not sooner. I’ll be writing about these as soon as I can get my hands on them.
What’s in it for me?
We’ve covered some of the features in this column, and now that the product is “real”, you can expect even deeper dives. Here are some of the highlights of this new product:
- 64 bit only. You may see this as a blessing, or a curse. If you’re like me, you have plenty of old-but-not-forgotten hardware that would make a PERFECT Home Server. Unfortunately, most of this hardware is of the 32 bit variety, and therefore worthless as a Home Server 2011 box. On the other hand, now I have an excuse to buy some new gear!
- DLNA 1.5 compliance. If you’re an audiophile or home theater enthusiast, or just want to keep all of your electronics as “connected” as possible, then this will be important to you.
- Support for Mac clients. I love the fact that Microsoft and Apple are getting along…even if only on the surface. Getting products from these two companies to work together is always fun, so it’s nice that Home Server 2011 designed to cooperate with OSX right out of the box.
- Support for Windows 7 HomeGroup. This is a new feature of Windows 7 that lets you easily share files, printers, media, and document libraries with the other computers in your home. Don’t worry, it’s all password protected.
How do I?
If you have questions about your new Home Server 2011, I’d love to hear them. Perhaps you have a “How do I” type question. If your question if featured in this column, I’ll send you a “Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House” book!
See you next month.
