This video for Microsoft Home Server is the kind of thing most of us wish Microsoft would do more of.  How else are you going to get people’s attention for this type of product?  How many people wake up saying "I really need a server for my home"?  Even with the wave of cloud storage/backup services that is emerging, there will be a need for home servers for quite some time. To pick an extreme example, take someone using an HD Camcorder to record the life of their children from birth through college.  It’s going to be a long time before they have enough network bandwidth to stick all of that up in the cloud.  Not to mention what the cloud storage vendors are likely to charge for more than the first few GB of storage.

For the last couple of years I’ve been using a Seagate Mirra server to provide backup for all the PCs in my house.  I’ll be switching that over to a Microsoft Home Server in the next couple of months.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the experience will be at least as good as the one I’ve had with the Mirra.