Windows Home Server RC1 available for download

Microsoft has just announced a tasty banana for all you code monkeys out there, in the form of the first publicly available download (well, for non-beta testers at least) of the widely anticipated Windows Home Server operating system. Release Candidate 1, as this build is known, is said to offer a number of improvements over previous betas, and is the first version that participants in the Code2Fame Challenge can use to work on their entries. So go ahead, get your download on, and try to whip up some WHS add-ins that'll net you a portion of the $50,000 prize package.

[Via Windows Home Server Blog]

[The Aggie CEO™ @ Jun 12th 2007 7:29PM]

installing now.......I had the first RC but never got around to installing it.....

[Zach @ Jun 12th 2007 7:30PM]

Woah, this actually looks pretty awesome, I'll check it out and give my impression of it here.

[P @ Jun 12th 2007 7:50PM]

Thats impressive since this is the first RC

[nomadicalloy @ Jun 12th 2007 7:59PM]

@Man Made Millionaire stop spamming.

[John Doe @ Jun 12th 2007 8:45PM]

Yum, virtulized Home Server. :-)

[Deezee @ Jun 12th 2007 8:02PM]

Somebody teach me how to code, quick!

[GabrielDunn @ Jun 12th 2007 8:11PM]

Nice of Microsoft to let you find bugs and make money for them.

Whoo

[Byrongman @ Jun 12th 2007 8:32PM]

Right.....

And how is this different from MMORPGs, Halo 3, or that unworkable verison of Sufari that just landed?

Somehow MS is the big demon for doing public tests? Get a life.

[KodeK @ Jun 12th 2007 8:41PM]

Don't feed the trolls.

[John Doe @ Jun 12th 2007 8:46PM]

Yum, virtulized Home Server. :-)

[e_rocm @ Jun 12th 2007 8:51PM]

I can't see where to download it. I filled out the survey so do I have to wait for an invite now?

[Will @ Jun 12th 2007 9:12PM]

Dearest Engadget,

Please stop using the obscuring Carl's Jr ad with the hula girl. It is idiotic, covers up other stuff and sometimes doesn't close. I almost smashed my brains out with a hammer because they got a precious 'click' when I accidentally clicked on it while trying to close it.


Signed,

Engadget occasional commenter.

[Joe @ Jun 12th 2007 9:46PM]

Am I to presume this is not an open download? You guys should inform your readers that an application is necessary.

[Cal @ Jun 12th 2007 9:33PM]

I've never seen a Carl's Jr ad. Does that mean their ads are regional?

[Will @ Jun 12th 2007 10:12PM]

Wakaranai;

I know that CJ is owned by the same parent company as 'Hardy's'.

I was just spamming anyway; I doubt they have a choice of ads. Most likely they contract with some ad group and get what they get...

[James @ Jun 14th 2007 4:24PM]

WTF are you doing reading Engadget and *not* using Adblock? I guess they probably have a bunch of ads they want you to see, but I never do, and you shouldn't either.

[Nate @ Jun 12th 2007 10:10PM]

I was part of their beta, but the link I received in my email today about RC1 doesn't work. It has me log in to MS, and then the actually download page seems to be a 404.

Anyone have an new information on that, or where I can go as a registered user to actually get teh download?

[Russ @ Jun 12th 2007 10:17PM]

Question about WHS:
Does it support Media Center itself? Meaning can I shove tuners in my WHS and have it handle all my media center duties? I've read all the papers on how WHS is supposed to be my main place for everything in my house, but it's hardly any good if I still have to keep a vista box around to record everything, and then send it to the WHS.

[e_rocm @ Jun 12th 2007 10:35PM]

As far as I know it will not accept tuner cards and it cannot be used with media center extenders. It can be used as an UPnP media server though. It is mostly intended to store data and is kind of like a drobo but with a lot more functionality.

[Zon @ Jun 13th 2007 8:52AM]

The Xbox360 media extender feature is supported via Microsoft Connect

[e_rocm @ Jun 13th 2007 8:22PM]

Windows Media Connect (now integrated into WMP11) uses the UPnP media sharing protocol to share files to the XBOX 360 dashboard. As I stated in my first comment, this IS possible with Windows Home Server. Using your 360 as a Media Center Extender (where your Media Center interface is extended to your 360 and you can watch live TV etc.) IS NOT compatible with Windows Home Server.

People often confuse streaming media to your 360 through the dashboard and actually using it as a Media Center Extender. Hope this clears up some confusion.

[djs @ Dec 4th 2007 8:29PM]

How did you get windows home server and xbox 360 to work together?

[tragic @ Jun 13th 2007 12:49AM]

Going open source eh!

[trillionandone @ Jun 13th 2007 4:42AM]

I tested an earlier version of WHS for a couple of weeks. I had it on a closed network with a couple of XP machines, a couple of Macs, a Vista machine an XBOX 360 and a few terabytes worth of stray firewire and usb drives laying around.

I really like the basic idea behind an appliance that could aggregate all those external disks and begin managing backups with all my machines, centralize (consolidate) media storage, etc...

All in all, I found that I had much more free time as soon as I got rid of WHS. Nice idea, but really wasn't a very smooth experience. First off, I found setup a tad confusing. I never managed to get the point where backups were just happening automatically.

In short - it's still much faster and easier to go out and buy one big whopping drive, slap it on the network and have each machine using native backup software to sync when on network.

The dream of aggregating all those odd drives laying around seams better left to software raid configuration that we've had for a long time in OSX (might also be available on Windows... no clue).

As far as some sort of sweet media sharing hub - the lazy man in me still prefers just slapping stuff into iTunes - one monster installation on a central machine at home and other stuff randomly contained within the iTunes libraries across all my windows and mac machines with few airport expresses and an appleTV gives me all the flexibility I require with absolutely zero maintenance effort.

I'll need something more compelling than this.

If Time Machine really delivers - with no performance hits or obscene disk storage requirements - then I am certain WHS will have no place in my personal or professional tech life.

[trillionandone @ Jun 13th 2007 4:45AM]

Oh - Forgot to mention, the "Drobo" solution definitely caught my eye. Make sure to check out the demo on their website if your interested:

http://www.engadget.com/photos/drobo-review/

[Major Malfunction @ Jun 13th 2007 11:19AM]

I vote you off the island!

[J L @ Jun 13th 2007 4:57PM]

Just a heads up, trillionandone:

It is said that WHS will be usable as the backup drive for Time Machine. So, you may want to re think that part about it not being in your life...

[Bobo @ Jun 13th 2007 8:09PM]

Spamming engadget about your lame ass blog is entirely not necessary.

[locoyoco2 @ Jun 20th 2007 2:01PM]

hey just found this sight its got some good info

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[Tarry @ Aug 11th 2008 2:11AM]

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