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.