The Microsoft Home Server Team started Blogging, some interesting facts from the first posts.

We have done a lot of research on these homes over the last 2 years to uncover additional data, and also see if they were ready for a "home server" product. Here are a few of the things we have learned:

• On average, these households have 3 "active" PCs with the majority running a mix of Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional
• Over 90% of these households own a digital camera
• Over 95% own a color printer
• 70% own a game console
• Less than 20% feel they have a good backup solution

"Why don't you put Exchange in Windows Home Server?"

There are a lot of reasons why the first version of Windows Home Server will not provide any e-mail functionality for a family:

1. 86% of consumers in broadband homes with 2 or more computers are ""very satisfied" with their hosted e-mail solution.
   • Interestingly, consumers usually have 2 or more "e-mail" accounts, one for communicating with friends and one for all of that other stuff (e.g. site registrations, e-commerce shipping information, etc.).
   • They often use the free e-mail accounts from their broadband provider and they also have a free e-mail account from 1 or more of the Big 4 (MSN Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, or Yahoo).
   • They like the convenience of a hosted e-mail solution.
2. Microsoft has a product - Windows Small Business Server - that comes with Microsoft Exchange integrated in. Windows Small Business Server (SBS) scales to up to 75 users and I know a few people that use it to host e-mail for their family and friends. If you really want to host your own on-premise e-mail server in your home - then use Windows SBS.
3. We are trying to keep the cost of Windows Home Server low ... and if we keep integrating in lots of other products - then as you might expect the price will have to go up.

Video: On10

Paul Thurrott's preview/review

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Microsoft, Windows Home Server, Blog