Windows wants to run your life

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Ian Grayson17 May 2007, 12:40 AM

Not content with controlling most desktops and elbowing its way into family lounge rooms, Microsoft now has plans to dominate your entire house.

Not content with controlling most desktops and elbowing its way into family lounge rooms, Microsoft now has plans to dominate your entire house.

The company’s new Windows Home Server product will be able to control everything from home automation to security cameras when it hits the market later this year.

Microsoft is teaming with a range of software developers and service providers to construct an ecosystem with Home Server at its heart. If the strategy succeeds, Vista will run your life.

At the WinHEC event currently taking place in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced it has signed a host of new partners for its Home Server program. They will offer everything from remote back-up and video monitoring to climate control and home security.

Microsoft Home Server senior product manager Joel Sider told APC there was huge interest from developers to create additional functions for the platform. His company is even staging a competition, called Code to Fame, to encourage hobbyist developers to get creative.

“We have this rapid community of 70,000 beta testers that is very active,” says Sider. “We are seeing all these ideas and opportunities as they send us code. It’s exciting.”

Underneath the covers, Home Server is based on the same code as Windows Server 2003, however future versions will be based on the soon-to-be-launched Server 2008 product.

Microsoft is eyeing the estimated 50 million households worldwide that have more than one PC as potential customers for the product.

Designers have focused on making Home Server as simple to install as possible. Once connected to a home network, it will automatically schedule daily back-ups for each connected PC.

The product also offers remote access capabilities. Users can download digital images from a camera to their server via the internet. Access can also be granted to other people, allowing sharing of photos and video with family members and friends.

It is expected to ship later this year.

Ian Grayson travelled to WinHEC as a guest of Microsoft. 


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Anon_Amous:

When I first saw the headline for this article two things came to mind 1 was an old joke about how to biuld a better toaster 2 all the silly SciFi movies about mad computers that take over the house and try to Impregnate, Control or Kill you! (Not necessarilly in that order)

A nice touch with the photo at first glance I thought it was a taoster and a coffee maker.
Perhapse someone can do something with photoshop ;}

29 February 2008, 8:30 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

raindog:

a BSOD from my toaster, DRM on my washing machine, yeah I cannot wait.
From decades of experience in automation and man machine interfacing I have to beg the question, how is a reworked XP platform the key ingredient for that Jetson's style networked dream home?

The reality will be something more akin to Microsoft buying out an X10 vendor and re-badging some old tech whilst trying to lock in another range of MS only gizmos.

There are many systems out there already doing what Microsoft hopes to achieve, both commercial and hobbyist offerings.


29 February 2008, 8:30 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

pc_doc:

I hope microsoft doesn't make us activate the fridge in 30 days :) or my toaster gets a virus... LOL

29 February 2008, 8:30 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

j3st3r:

Why does this article remind me of the sappy 1984 movie Electric Dreams. Just remember to keep those beverages away from the keyboard in your Microsoft McMansion.

29 February 2008, 8:30 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Bill:

You forgot the "i" in between the u & the n in run.

29 February 2008, 8:30 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Anonymous942:

just imagine the magic possible when a hacker would be able to not only take over your pc but your entire home...now theres a dream home.
oh and not to mention the lag time if you are accustomed of doing more than one thing at once.
and the scary thought of missing updates that will slow down the system even more because the code is written too sloppy as they have to meet deadlines

29 February 2008, 8:30 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Grrrrr:

No!!!! I do not want Windows Genuine Advantage to lock my toilet flush!!!

Pleeeeaaaaseeeeeee!!!!


I hope my cat doesn't mind sharing his sandbox with me...

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Dogknees:

It seems that no one here, or in a lot of other forums, understands the concept that MS selling a product doesn't require you to buy it. Nor do you have to use it the way they want you to. If you want it to hold you music and video, then use it for that, don't connect anything else. If you want to wire you home with it, do that.

Don't whinge that MS are ruling you life because you allow them to. That's not them at fault, it's you!

It's just like politics. If you want to change things, join a party and spend some time and effort contributing. If you feel you have no political power, it's because you choose not to have it.

Get a grip people, buy what "you" want, not what they want you to. Use it the way "you" want, not the way they tell you to.

Regards

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

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