That said, I discussed this briefly with a Microsoft representative who said that Microsoft is aware that there's a big enthusiast crowd out there, and a retail release of the OS isn't out of the question. This is disappointing news, because the early-adopter segment isn't particularly interested in paying top dollar for OEM creations when do-it-yourself delivers a better experience.

And much like Media Center in the early days, we don't expect specialty shops to carry an OEM version of the software anytime soon. One challenge facing Windows Home Server (WHS for short) is that it is an OEM-only product, meaning that you won't be able to head out and buy WHS at your local retail joint. Whether or not it can fight off competition from other products, especially the coming onslaught of consumer NAS products, remains to be seen. Dropped behind a suitable firewall, this should be a strong server product that meets many emerging needs in the computing household. It's built using a mix of new and not-new sever technology, but whereas we previously believed it was based on a client OS, Windows Home Server is in fact based off of Windows Server 2003. It's all about centralization and ease of use, and it's targeted at users who want an easy way to back up all of the important data in their house. Much of what we predicted about Home Server is true.