Microsoft's CES announcements
Hi all,
I just read about MS's announcements at CES and thought it would be interesting to to discuss them here.
It seems Vista and its bundled is coming very close to OS X and the iLife apps as MS introduced Photo Gallery and DVD Maker
But what really caught my attention is the introduction of Windows Home Server. It is supposed to add storage to your network in a hasslefree way. This is a product that - slightly more functional by adding other gateway and user management functions - I have always wished for Apple to make.
With the MS ecosystem becoming evermore connected and highly integrated, what will counterpoint will Apple present on Tuesday?
What is your opinion on MS's recent announcements?
I just read about MS's announcements at CES and thought it would be interesting to to discuss them here.
It seems Vista and its bundled is coming very close to OS X and the iLife apps as MS introduced Photo Gallery and DVD Maker
But what really caught my attention is the introduction of Windows Home Server. It is supposed to add storage to your network in a hasslefree way. This is a product that - slightly more functional by adding other gateway and user management functions - I have always wished for Apple to make.
With the MS ecosystem becoming evermore connected and highly integrated, what will counterpoint will Apple present on Tuesday?
What is your opinion on MS's recent announcements?
Comments
Roland, Had a quick look round the web at Home Server. Its sounds a similar sort of device to that of iTV, but that iTV is more geared towards providing content within the home onto the TV in the living room, whereas Home Server is more towrad providing a simple central repository for all the computers to pull / push data through.
Unless iTV changes substantially, i dont see Apple releasing another standalone box thing to counter it.
Perhaps in Leopard, if they did move to that ZFS ( or whatever it is ) then perhaps they could build in a feature whereby all machines on the home network could set aside some hard drive space which was common to all the machines . . . kind of like an automatic-shared drive where all data was replicated / shared between all machines.
For example, in Leopard, if you brought a new machine and connected it into the home network, it would automatically realise the shared space, configure a similar space on the new machine and start synching the data.
I'm still hoping those USB2 ports on the iTV is for hooking it up to external storage, and that it have a simple server application built into. Then you can have all shared media on there, and also private media, that can be reached from every computer. Would be neat...
But I guess I have to swithc to Windows to get that functionality.
This is also something that I thought Apple would introduce a few years ago when they introduced their family liscense of the OS. They seemed to acknowledge that families have multple macs but right now it seems that they would just assume we dedicate one of our macs to the task.
Yeah, that's how we done it. Me and my wife have one portable each, but we still have a noisy iMac G4 standing in a corner, collecting dust and acting as music/photoserver. Not really an elegant solution...
I have always wanted, and actually needed, an "iLife Server", where all media my family has can be gathered. Right now, it is an hassle. We share lots of our media, like music, photos etc. between family members. But there are no easy way to do it.
Exactly my point. It should be easy for Apple to implement a simple management console similar to the stuff they have in OS X Server.
It should also include management of user accounts, software updates, network printers and storage etc. giving them an even further advantage over MS's homeserver attempt.
Why Microsoft beat Apple to the punch is beyond me but I know that
when Apple does create the iServer it'll be more functional and easier to
use. I do want to see iLife offer a client/server mode. Digital files are growing
too large to handle across multiple computers. Having a home server allows you to
put the syncing logic into the server, enable a robust Time Machine setup and just adds to the ease of use.
I think we'll see a home server no later than a year or so from Apple. Perhaps iLife 07 has some hooks into a server paradigm that may be evident. We'll see.
Man we've been asking for a Home Server forever.
Why Microsoft beat Apple to the punch is beyond me but I know that
when Apple does create the iServer it'll be more functional and easier to
use. I do want to see iLife offer a client/server mode. Digital files are growing
too large to handle across multiple computers. Having a home server allows you to
put the syncing logic into the server, enable a robust Time Machine setup and just adds to the ease of use.
I think we'll see a home server no later than a year or so from Apple. Perhaps iLife 07 has some hooks into a server paradigm that may be evident. We'll see.
There has been a lot of information from LoopRumors (there rumor accuracy record is getting VERY good) that Leopard will be very well integrated into your home. iTV will in effect be a big part of the Apple server with a Widescreen Touchscreen Device as it's partner in domination (Pinky and the Brain stylee).
The wireless touchscreen device whether it's iPod, iPhone or different will control your iTV box, your mac and your home. Leopard, iTV and iTablet/iPod/iPhone is Apples Solution.
Audio, Video, Photos, Device Control, Lighting... it's all coming this year. 21 Hours to Go!
- Jasen.
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/whs_preview.asp
Man we've been asking for a Home Server forever.
Why Microsoft beat Apple to the punch is beyond me but I know that
when Apple does create the iServer it'll be more functional and easier to
use. I do want to see iLife offer a client/server mode. Digital files are growing
too large to handle across multiple computers. Having a home server allows you to
put the syncing logic into the server, enable a robust Time Machine setup and just adds to the ease of use.
I think we'll see a home server no later than a year or so from Apple. Perhaps iLife 07 has some hooks into a server paradigm that may be evident. We'll see.
Yeah, that's how we done it. Me and my wife have one portable each, but we still have a noisy iMac G4 standing in a corner, collecting dust and acting as music/photoserver. Not really an elegant solution...
If anyone else watched the dry CES keynote, did you notice the Time Machine jab when they were demoing Windows Volume Shadow Copy, after he showed it the guy uttered "Its better then going back in time".
Man we've been asking for a Home Server forever.
Why Microsoft beat Apple to the punch is beyond me...
I wouldn't make these statements until it is released.....