We Got Served

Interesting post a couple of days ago on the Windows Home Server blog.

“How do you explain the benefits of Windows Home Server to the “end user” (not the administrator of Windows Home Server, but the person who you may need to convince or explain why this software is important, cool, or some other adjective du jour) in a home? How do you get them to be excited about a new piece of technology - how do they see the benefits?”

Marketing Windows Home Server will be a big challenge – with several layers of complexity. Without a doubt, there are some great features in Beta 2….

1. Simple remote access to my files and folders anywhere in the world.
2. Automated backup of my home computers.
3. Simple restore functionality if things go wrong.
4. One location from which to hold and distribute all of your media files around the home

…but the problem is, these features firmly sit in the area of “useful” as opposed to “must have”. Windows Home Server is a useful product. But right now, it appeals to the mind rather than the heart, unlike products like Windows Vista, Windows Media Centre, and the Mac.

It’s a bit like the dilemma we have with the new house we’re buying – it’s a great house, but is a bit of a 1980s timewarp. Avocado bathrooms, dado rails, artexed ceilings, we’ve got the lot. The heating system works, but we could do with replacing the boiler and upgrading the timer control system. What we have there works okay, but it could be better.

So, we’ve got a bunch of money to spend – we could start by spending it on a new kitchen and bathroom with funky units, new sinks, taps, washing machine and really transform the look and feel of what’s there, to show off to family and friends. Or, we could spend £5k on a new boiler and timer control, which will improve our energy efficiency, ensure we have heat through the winter, and will save us money in the logn run, but we’ll shut it away in a cupboard and promptly forget about it.

Windows Home Server is like that boiler – every home should have one. In fact, I believe in the future that many many homes will have one. But it will be a long way down many people’s pecking order, compared to more glittery/less useful purchases. Basing the system on Windows Server 2003 is a sensible move in terms of functionality, but compared to the Vista and Windows Media Center UIs, it looks excruciatingly dull. There are many that say that Server UI’s should be basic, lean, stripped down. For IT boffins in office basements salivating over Longhorn Server Core, they’re probably right. Windows Home Server is not for them. It’s for the people that Microsoft are spending hundreds of millions of pounds marketing Windows Vista (almost wholly) on Aero and Flip 3D.

Now imagine Windows Home Server console with a Windows Media Center interface? Simple to use, looks great, consistent with Windows Vista. V2 must look at upgrading the UI, as well as increasing functionality to appeal to both hearts and minds.

Maybe Microsoft & their partners should also be thinking about selling direct into home builders and developers? They buy more boilers than most, and if I wanted to shift volume, I’d be trying to ensure that every new house that was built in the developed world, was built not only with a boiler, but with a Windows Home Server system.

Oh, and yes, we’ll wait on that boiler….