Remote Access
I use Remote Access fairly frequently. The new version of Remote Access looks like it would work fine for me. I’m not overly interested in making the remote access portal individualized, but it does look like the functionality would work fine to me.
Media Streaming Website
I currently run the HP Version 3 software that includes a nice remote media streaming client. WHS2011 implements that as a standard feature and uses Silverlight as opposed to Flash in the HP implementation. While I really like the Silverlight streaming capability, the Flash site is able to be run on more platforms as Flash is pretty universal and Silverlight is a Microsoft only option. For my use case, though, I could run the new media streaming capability on my tablet or my home PC’s just fine, so I could upgrade and not lose much here. Some of my family would have to load Silverlight on their home machines, but that’s not a deal breaker.
Backups
There are improvements to the backup functionality and that should make it easier to restore 64 bit Windows 7 machines. At this point, I don’t expect to buy anything but 64 bit Windows 7 machines in the future so I’d appreciate the improvements to the backup and restore function.
Conclusion
For now, I agree with Alex Kuretz who said that he is in a wait and see mode. WHS2011 is a powerful and robust platform, but implementing RAID5 is not for the average home user and I’m not convinced that a Move A File Wizard to help expansion is the right answer. Also, I’m not sure that simply deleting photos is a practical solution for me and I suspect that you agree.
If drive pooling can’t be added in something like a DataCore or DriveBender or StableBit, I may just hold off until my server is shot before deciding. With such a pooling option added back in, I could easily justify the upgrade. Unfortunately, I can’t definitively answer my question today, but as we see just what OEM’s and these developers deliver, the picture will get clearer very soon.
DataCore and WHS Drive Bender StableBit Drive Pooling
Thanks for your insight Jim. 🙂
Sure, John, glad you liked it!
Thanks Jim, I think you summed it up nicely!
Nice article. I wonder if consumers will “vote” with their pocketbook and give WHS 2011 a much lower/slower adoption rate than WHS v1?
To be honest because of all the negative comments around the removal of DE and HP getting out of the market, coupled with a lack of any “launch” hardware, I think it will be slow.
I’m with Andrew on this one. Uptake will be slow.
might want to do a little fact checking…..
Silverlight is also available for all current versions of Mac OSX as well.
And so it is. I don’t run OSX so my familiarity with it is limited. Thanks for the correction…
Jim