The thing about platforms like Windows Home Server is that they’re really difficult to name. When WHS was first released, Microsoft had to differentiate it from the rest of their Windows Server products, which are more Enterprise-oriented as well as ensure that the average consumer didn’t confuse the product with Windows client operating systems they’d run on their home computer, like Windows XP, Windows Vista and so on.
Given the fact that WHS hasn’t set the consumer world alight in terms of sales in the past two years, Microsoft have opened up a new positioning for the product in the Small Business space – which is confusing for the small business owner, given that there’s already a product called Windows Small Business Server. But that’s for… erm… bigger small businesses, but businesses not big enough to use Windows Small Business Server Premium.
I think it’s time for the Microsoft brand police to get involved – they’re not known for brevity when it comes to branding, (evidence: one Windows Server line is named “Windows Server 2008 Standard Without Hyper-V“) but there’s a problem here that needs cleaning up. Let’s give them a bit of help.
So, your brief:
You have a server platform that works well in the home as well as for home-based or small-office based businesses with less than 10 users. It offers great back-up, media sharing and remote access features, but no email server.
You want to sell it to digital home enthusiasts who need it to be simple to use for backing up and sharing music, video, documents and photos as well as smaller business users who will back-up business critical files.
You want to ensure that potential purchasers clearly and quickly understand how it is different to other Windows Server products, whilst retaining flexibility to engage and sell to home and business users.
Create a new name for Windows Home Server.
