Following yesterdays shocking announcement about the removal of Drive Extender from Windows Home Server Code Name Vail, Paul Thurrot has posted more information about the reason for the removal – and he got more information than the MVPs did!
In case you were asleep yesterday, click here to read what happened.
Here is the part of Paul’s article that goes into more detail:
In a briefing last month, I was told that Microsoft and its partners discovered problems with Drive Extender once they began typical server loads (i.e. server applications) on the system. This came about because Drive Extender was being moved from a simple system, WHS, to a more complex, server-like OS )(SBS “Aurora”) that would in fact be used to run true server applications. And these applications were causing problems.
“Drive Extender was a neat feature, but the implementation was off, and we discovered some application compatibility and disk tool problems related to its ability to correct data errors on the fly,” Microsoft general manager Kevin Kean told me. “We don’t want to give customers problems; we want to give them solutions. So ultimately, we decided that we needed to cut out Drive Extender. Removing Drive Extender will make file shares easy, and it’s possible to accomplish most of its features otherwise. For example, you use the server’s centralized backup or even RAID as an alternative to data duplication.”
You can read the full post here.
So there you have it – I’m not really sure what to add to the hundreds of comments that are floating around the internet after only 24 hours.
New UWHS Post : Microsofts Reason for Killing Drive Extender in Windows Home Server Vail – http://tinyurl.com/2c53h9j
Microsofts Reason for Killing Drive Extender in Windows Home Server Vail: Following yesterdays shockin… http://bit.ly/evTa0B #WHS #SBS
To me I only wanted PC backup and easy (reliable, redundant) network storage. With DE gone, Vail is nearly useless. The built-in backup, file storage, Windows Restore and Clonezilla makes backup easy. ZFS will be the best NAS and Free NAS is also looking good.
I now see no compelling reason to pay for WHS 2/ Vail.
Just as I thought, us WHS users are taking in the you know what because they want to make three products instead of one. I hope they decide to use the old version of DE on Vail and not include it for the small business products.
Microsofts Reason for Killing Drive Extender in Windows Home Server Vail : http://tinyurl.com/2c53h9j
The business applications that don't work right on the new DE 2.0 are probably Microsoft's own applications. That's why they need to remove it. MS teams don't really talk to each other well and test across other MS products until they are well into the process. I've had this same problem with MS Expression Studio 3.0 which was out less than a year before 4.0 came out and they messed up the licensing with the codecs. Businesses that need the stripped down essentials don't need real server applications anyway. Just pay for the 2008R2 based version that doesn't have DE and be on your merry way. MS thinks they understand business and consumer needs but Apple is the one that is really getting it now even though they are not a "business" focused company. Just look at the Windows 7 Phone delay and debacle. I use products from both companies in both a business and consumer environment. I can't believer it took this long to find this out from a software perspective.
now only linux has a drive extender solution – greyhole. you'd think that MS could get it right, being the biggest software warehouse in the world?