What happens when I fall in love with WHS?

Friday, March 09, 2007 10:23 PM

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I've read through the documentation that came with the install files and created a virtual just to see the interface and poke around a little bit. I like what I see so far but my question is what happens when I fall in love with WHS?

I am considering buying hardware to install this on, but I am afraid that if I do that, down the road I won't be able to use it because
1. The beta will expire
2. There may not be a retail copy of the OS available without ordering new OEM hardware
How are other approaching this? I need to purchase a server for my home, but I hate the idea of installing this only to get screwed in the end.
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Friday, March 09, 2007 10:31 PM

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I believe they've already said they're supporting system builders with WHS.

Of corse that could always change.

As for new hardware, I'd be worried about driver support. (I'm having a lovely time with Vista x64 and drivers...especially for sound cards.)

What is WHS compatibility with Windows 2003 drivers?
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Friday, March 09, 2007 10:31 PM

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My plan has been to likely buy a pre-built WHS come release day so that when my hardware goes bad (which it so often does)... I have someone else to blame.

Because of that, I’ve been treating my WHS as a beta product that can be paved and/or lost at any time. All data stored on it is also stored elsewhere... just in case the system crashes in a way where I lose all of my data... or the next version of WHS that goes on it is incompatible with the existing backups.

I know it’s easy to get attached to a beta product that rocks your world... just keep in mind that there is no guarantee of a happy upgrade path... despite the efforts the WHS team will be making towards it.
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Friday, March 09, 2007 11:13 PM

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From what I can tell driver support is comparable to Server 2003. It will be hard to tell until I have actual hardware hooked up.

I also realize I shouldn't get too attached to beta software and doesn't really matter, because barring hardware failure or severe software errors, I should be able to transfer anything I store on the server off to something else if needed.
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Saturday, March 10, 2007 9:25 PM

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I believe I saw a post here that told of some way to see how long the WHS beta would last. I think the person who checked his said it was sometime in 2008.

Anyone know how to check, or was I dreaming this?
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Saturday, March 10, 2007 9:42 PM

dibbkd wrote:

I believe I saw a post here that told of some way to see how long the WHS beta would last. I think the person who checked his said it was sometime in 2008.

Anyone know how to check, or was I dreaming this?

I can't remember which screen, but somewhere on the server it said that it expires in February of 2008.

Sunday, March 11, 2007 5:10 AM

Thanks, I did a bit of forum searching and found this quote:

Rory Donnelly wrote:

Yes, it's a 365-day beta. I activated my install on 21/2/07, and the WHS Console (under Stettings, Resources) says it expires on 20/2/08.

Regards,

RoryD.

I don't have access at the moment to check my WHS Console, but I'll check this later this evening.

Sunday, March 11, 2007 9:29 AM

dibbkd wrote:

I believe I saw a post here that told of some way to see how long the WHS beta would last. I think the person who checked his said it was sometime in 2008.

Anyone know how to check, or was I dreaming this?

Start -> Run -> type: "winver" without the quotes, it tells you "Evaluation copy. Expires <date> <time>"

Sunday, March 11, 2007 4:30 PM

Do you Run "winver" on the server? You can also find this info on the WHS Server Console as previosly mentioned.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:55 PM

I thought I heard this recently, that WHS won't be available as a stand-alone product. I would rather install it on new hardware that I built for the purpose. So, I hope there is an OEM channel that I can buy the software from. Thanks, Microsoft.

I have had a great experience with WHS with one exception that I'll post in another forum message. It is much better than a NAS and certainly intuitive for most home users.

Monday, June 18, 2007 6:47 AM

I have had the RC for three days now and I have already fallen in luv! Perfect install, backups, remote access...very few hitches. And the ones that have poped up have been addressed in this forum.

Mr. Gates...could you let the beta testers and RC users buy a copy of the OS...PLEASE!! My copy expires in 12/16/2007 .

Monday, June 18, 2007 8:00 AM

Justin G. Mitchell wrote:

The beta will expire

This is inevitable almost all betas expire

Justin G. Mitchell wrote:

There may not be a retail copy of the OS available without ordering new OEM hardware

According to current documentation there will be a System Builder version. The current SBLA for operating systems allows OEM copies to be sold as long as the packaging has not been opened without requiring any hardware. The caveat is that the purchaser of such a product is bound by the terms of the SBLA and not just the EULA.

It is possible that WHS will have a new SBLA.

Monday, June 18, 2007 1:52 PM

Why all the odd expiration dates?

I installed WHS RC1 about a week ago and my expiration date is 9/17/07.

I've been in many MS betas and usually the expiration is based on the beta release, not some seemingly random event.

john