Windows Home Server is a new product venturing into unexplored territory. It has had its growing pains in the form of the famous Data Corruption bug and lack of an x64 Connector. It is a product that, if designed and marketed correctly, has huge growth potential. One of the most glaring features missing from a product that promotes itself as a central repository of digital data is the ability to easily serve all the home entertainment devices in the home.
That feature is Windows Media Center. It has been around for a few years, it is a relatively mature product, and there are users all over the world who have built Home Theater PC’s with (and some without) Media Center to:
- Watch TV
- Record TV
- Play DVDs
- Play VCDs
- Play MP3s
- Play CDs
- View pictures
- And more
Users have built these PC’s to act as a dedicated central repository for all their media and then have the ability to stream this data to wherever they want to in their home. To another PC, to their TV, to their Xbox, or to their sound system.
In my home, I have a WHS where I make use of the most of the features of WHS. I also have a Vista machine which includes Windows Media Center. I use my PC to watch DVD’s and listen to my music that is stored on my WHS. I currently use my PC to watch TV, either live or recorded, on that PC. But that is just on my PC. Streaming to my TV? Yea, right.
I would really like to be able to open a version of Media Center on my Windows Home Server from any device I have attached to it, whether directly or through an extender and watch TV, play a DVD, or listen to music.
It is interesting to note the feature lists of these 2 products. Direct from Microsoft’s website is a list of the features of WHS which follows.
- Digital memories and media stored and organized in a central location
- Home computers backed up daily, automatically
- Simple restore of lost files or even entire hard drive contents
- Complete access to files from both inside and outside the home
- A secure and personalized website address for sharing photos and home videos
- Easily add storage space and new software capabilities
Now compare these features with some of Windows Media Center features.
- Schedule show time on your own time
- Big, beautiful photos and videos
- Make any room a media room
- Music that’s easy to find and play
- Diverse online entertainment
It is easy to see MC would appear to be a natural extension of WHS, or perhaps the other way around! Unfortunately, Microsoft has a habit of producing software that is quite often redundant and fails to integrate easily with other Microsoft software. Such is the case of WHS and MC. There are always a number of very talented people in this world who attempt to bridge these integration problems. Sometimes well and sometimes not. This can be fine for those willing to tediously search for a solution to their particular need. This is not so fine for those who simply want to open the “box”, plug it in, and have it all work right now. For example, you plug the cable into your TV, turn it on, and you can now watch zillions of channels. Not quite so simple if one has a Media Center or WHS computer.
There is another problem for the connected home user who wants to integrate the features of WHS and MC and share it throughout the home. You need 2 computers. I’ll let you try and convince my wife of the need for another computer. Also, in a world where energy is becoming a very precious commodity, businesses have begun to use Virtual Servers to eliminate hardware. One computer does it all: file server, backup server, exchange server, etc. using virtualization. Just the idea, however, of setting up such an environment to have just WHS and MC in a virtualized environment would make most normal user’s eyes glaze over dramatically.
It is not as if Microsoft is unaware of this integration need. Over at The Green Button is a thread that was started almost a year ago by a Microsoft employee discussing integration. Lots of talk and no action. I realize that the growing pains of WHS has slowed down development of other WHS features, but it is about time that that Microsoft gives this integration feature a kick in the pants and start the process.
What do you think?
Breaking news!
2 of our more avid fans here on WGS (GaMeR and Drashna) have found a way to integrate MC 2005 into WHS! Check out this thread at WGS. Hopefully, their hard work will pay off! Bookmark it now and see how the development progresses. I will be very curious to see what kind of response will come Microsoft on this, if any.
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