Let me put it this way...in it's current incarnation, I find it very difficult to recommend to my non-techie friends...you know, regular home users.
Say a friend of mine needs a little more storage because he's filled up his small laptop drive, and he could use a little more space for editing home videos on his desktop.
I could recommend:
A) An external 500gb HDD that comes with automatic backup software for about $100-150. All he has to do is plug in a USB cable. He's got backup, he's got some extra room, and its relatively fast - certainly fast enough to get by editing video, and its small and portable so he can take it with him.
B) A mediasmart server for 4-5x the price. The backup is better, but the automatic external HDD backup is good enough. Naturally, he doesnt have nor even know what gigabit ethernet is, so performance will be limited, and he'd have a tough time editing video right off the server. He'd have to set up client software on his PCs which is going to confuse him somewhat. He'd have to learn to do with network locations instead of just another drive. He also has to consider where he's going to save his files...to the local drive, or to the server? Its got endless expandability, but what can he use it for? He wouldnt know how to rip a DVD to save his life, nor have the time, know-how or inclination to set up an HTPC to access them even if he did. Now he needs to take some files with him? Good luck. He can access it at the relatively sluggish speed of broadband through an absurd web interface instead of taking the fast, tiny little drive with him. Ooh, but its got a web server, so you can share your photos to everyone off the net...as if there wasnt a zillion places to do that online already.
I'd have a very, very tough time trying to make that sale, even if they were both $150.
On the other hand...imagine if I could tell him all he needed to do open the box, plug it in, pop a dvd in the dvd drive on the server (that doesnt yet exist), press a button, and a small display on the server itself would show him the progress of ripping. Then he can access his movies off a neat menu on his Xbox 360, with metadata and all, with virtually no configuration. Same for CDs, maybe even Blu-rays and Xbox 360 games. Then he actually might have a use for all that storage.
If I could tell him that once he installed the client software, he'd have a second drive appear on his desktop and laptop, and whether he was at home or in a coffee shop, he could access his files easily and quickly, and it would all sync completely transparently. And better yet, even though he doesnt know what "offline files" are, WHS worked together with Windows to make a client side cache of common files where he could access many of his files at local speeds even though he's connected to a 50KB/s hotspot. Fast and easy to use, and he has no idea how it works...it just does.
If the server itself had a built in gigabit switch, he could plop it right next to the ubiquitous 100mb router, connect the included cat6 cable, and he'd have very fast access to his data on his desktop, fast enough to edit video, without having to think about how to make it faster or why he'd even need to.
And then if I told him any documents or pictures he put on the server were automatically backed up off-site, without him having to configure anything beyond a windows Live ID (which he probably already has), so his important docs and memories are safe if his house burns down....I might actually be able to convince him to buy it.
Say a friend of mine needs a little more storage because he's filled up his small laptop drive, and he could use a little more space for editing home videos on his desktop.
I could recommend:
A) An external 500gb HDD that comes with automatic backup software for about $100-150. All he has to do is plug in a USB cable. He's got backup, he's got some extra room, and its relatively fast - certainly fast enough to get by editing video, and its small and portable so he can take it with him.
B) A mediasmart server for 4-5x the price. The backup is better, but the automatic external HDD backup is good enough. Naturally, he doesnt have nor even know what gigabit ethernet is, so performance will be limited, and he'd have a tough time editing video right off the server. He'd have to set up client software on his PCs which is going to confuse him somewhat. He'd have to learn to do with network locations instead of just another drive. He also has to consider where he's going to save his files...to the local drive, or to the server? Its got endless expandability, but what can he use it for? He wouldnt know how to rip a DVD to save his life, nor have the time, know-how or inclination to set up an HTPC to access them even if he did. Now he needs to take some files with him? Good luck. He can access it at the relatively sluggish speed of broadband through an absurd web interface instead of taking the fast, tiny little drive with him. Ooh, but its got a web server, so you can share your photos to everyone off the net...as if there wasnt a zillion places to do that online already.
I'd have a very, very tough time trying to make that sale, even if they were both $150.
On the other hand...imagine if I could tell him all he needed to do open the box, plug it in, pop a dvd in the dvd drive on the server (that doesnt yet exist), press a button, and a small display on the server itself would show him the progress of ripping. Then he can access his movies off a neat menu on his Xbox 360, with metadata and all, with virtually no configuration. Same for CDs, maybe even Blu-rays and Xbox 360 games. Then he actually might have a use for all that storage.
If I could tell him that once he installed the client software, he'd have a second drive appear on his desktop and laptop, and whether he was at home or in a coffee shop, he could access his files easily and quickly, and it would all sync completely transparently. And better yet, even though he doesnt know what "offline files" are, WHS worked together with Windows to make a client side cache of common files where he could access many of his files at local speeds even though he's connected to a 50KB/s hotspot. Fast and easy to use, and he has no idea how it works...it just does.
If the server itself had a built in gigabit switch, he could plop it right next to the ubiquitous 100mb router, connect the included cat6 cable, and he'd have very fast access to his data on his desktop, fast enough to edit video, without having to think about how to make it faster or why he'd even need to.
And then if I told him any documents or pictures he put on the server were automatically backed up off-site, without him having to configure anything beyond a windows Live ID (which he probably already has), so his important docs and memories are safe if his house burns down....I might actually be able to convince him to buy it.