I have a home network which runs approximately 50 + software applications of which Microsoft owns none. I paid for the operating system, gladly, since XP sets standards on which the 50 + applications may run. My total cost invested in those 50+ applications?

Zero. They are all freeware!

The same is already the case in home automation, A/V, STB, etc, the open source community has responded and with MSofts Home Server, they will continue to respond with unparalleled eagerness. One is locked only if one allows oneself to be.

A clear thinking, professional home automation and intelligence designer will see the Microsoft trees not the forest. Others will simple be lost.

Microsoft is a poor choice fit for home automation. The key to a trouble-free smart home is choosing systems that are reliable and flexible.  There is plenty of room for a multitude of vendors and products in just about any home automation installation.  Of course, these products must be easily upgraded and replace with other vendors products.  Microsoft has an offensive history of locking customers into Microsoft’s products.  Think about how many times people replace products in their home: water heaters, furnaces, garage door openers, TV’s and stereos, refrigerators, a sprinkler timer, etc.  Now imagine if they could only replace those items with an item for same manufacturer.  It is absurd.  But it is exactly what Microsoft will want you to do.  Go ahead, ask them.  If for some reason you want to replace you Windows Home Server, can you use another manufacturers products?

If the installer of intelligence and automation in a home does his job professionally, the technology will nearly disappear. It will work as does a light switch without a trace from action to performance. The typical homeowner neither will care, care to know or know who the technology provider truly is. As IP based systems begin to dominate, with the present and near future home data networks and OS owned by Microsoft, and the designer is more often a software house who farms out the physical structured wiring rather than a hybrid electrical subcontractor, Microsoft will get their market share and potentially the greatest portion of the integrated, IP based marketplace. To say they will be shut out is patently absurd. In the interest of full disclosure: I am not employed by Microsoft, nor have I ever been.

Windows Home Sever Fails to Make the Grade.  Mr. Burkhardsmeier’s comments dodge the true issues associated with making Windows Home Server the center of the home network.  Smart homeowner are indeed embracing new technology advancement.  And open, non-proprietary systems are leading the way.  Internet access and e-mail have had a profound effect on life in the home.
But Microsoft’s Home Server represents what has gone wrong for technology in the home.  Proprietary home automation system are already a sore spot for many homeowners.  As a result, home automation as a whole often gets a “bum rap”.
So homeowners will continue to embrace technological advancements.  Home automation looks to be bright in the future.  Microsoft Home Server, however, will not be part of that success.
In the interest of full disclosure: I am not employed by Microsoft, nor have I ever been.

Mr. Amormino, if we follow your throught process and conclusion, then the smart homeowner would never have placed any new technological advancement into their home.

When the first computer came into the home with its 5.25” disk drive did that smart homeowner freak out and run for the hills when the 3.25” floppy disk came out, no!  Did that smart homeowner stay with turntables and 33-1/3 LP albums when the CD came out, no!
When WordStar was out done by WordPerfect, do that smart homeowner stop using the computer to create documents, no!

They adopted, adapted, and applauded the advancements of the improvements in the new technology that they introduced into their home. 

So I think when the smart homeowner with mulitple computers on a home network discovers Windows Home Server and its features, they will rush to the closest retailer to buy a Windows Home Server.