Announcing Windows Home Server Release Candidate

madmatt

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Announcing Windows Home Server RC!
We have arrived at another major milestone, Windows Home Server Release Candidate. You can get the RC at the following link: <SNIP, SNIP>

The RC (Release Candidate) release is a feature complete build of Windows Home Server. Here are the details:

Install options
As we stated in a mail earlier in May, we are only supporting one installation option with this RC release: New Installation. Server Reinstallation is not supported. Server Reinstallation will be supported from RC to RTM.

The New Installation option will wipe out all drives including drives where your backups and shares reside. Please be sure to backup any critical data off of your Windows Home Server installations prior to installing the RC build.

Enable Customer Feedback
We ask that you enable providing customer feedback information to Microsoft when you go through setup (or enable it later in Server Settings). We received VERY valuable data from Beta 2 and CTP via this mechanism and it is extremely important that any crash or failure you encounter get reported to us. For privacy reasons we cannot enable this feature by default now that we are this far along in our release schedule.

Things we want you to test:
  • Run every app you can think of on your client machines accessing files on the server via SMB.
  • Copy stuff on, copy stuff off, delete stuff, move stuff.
  • Run lots of backups.
  • Do single file/folder restores.
  • Restore full PCs.
  • Remote Access configuration
  • Password policy
  • Password reset
  • OOBE from a home PC (the OEM experience)
  • Full system restore of a home PC (test on a spare box)
  • Adding and removing hard drives through the Windows Home Server Console

Again, we thank you for all the great testing and feedback you've given us so far, and look forward to you helping us insure this RC is really ready for release!

Thanks,
Kevin Beares
Windows Home Server Community Lead

Enjoy!
 
Got the email too. Still don't have a spare box to throw it on, so I guess a VM will have to do again. :)
 
What a way to save money on resources. Get the public to test the product and feedback any problems to them. No need to employ extra staff to find the problems. :p

EDIT: Actually, don't you guys pay MS to get your hands on the beta/RC versions of these products?
 
What a way to save money on resources. Get the public to test the product and feedback any problems to them. No need to employ extra staff to find the problems. :p

EDIT: Actually, don't you guys pay MS to get your hands on the beta/RC versions of these products?
They do extensive testing internally too. It's called "dogfooding" and most good teams at Microsoft do it, as far as I'm aware. During Vista and Office 2007 development, for instance, there was a big campaign on their campus (I remember seeing the posters and stuff), encouraging all their employees to download and run the latest beta/RC builds.

Besides, public betas are not just beneficial to Microsoft. Home Server, for example, includes an API so that third-party developers can write add-ons for extra functionality. Windows ISV that want a leg-up over their competitors start building their applications before the product is released and can test them on these beta builds, so that they're mostly ready at launch time. It works out well for both parties. :)
 
It's a very efficient method of testing.

The beta testers should revolt and ask for some compensation ;p
 
The beta testers should revolt and ask for some compensation ;p
We do luck out sometimes. Getting a free Vista Ultimate license was nice (and would have been even nicer if I didn't already have an MSDN subscription).

The Office 2007 testers didn't get anything though. I wasn't in that program. :p
 
i may get around to instaling it on my box at last :p
 
We do luck out sometimes. Getting a free Vista Ultimate license was nice (and would have been even nicer if I didn't already have an MSDN subscription).

The Office 2007 testers didn't get anything though. I wasn't in that program. :p

I don't mind not getting anything in return. You get the upper hand on new products and that's what makes it worthwhile.
 
I don't mind not getting anything in return. You get the upper hand on new products and that's what makes it worthwhile.
I agree. I just like trying shiny new things, so that makes it worthwhile. :D
 
Still need to steal one of my pcs back from work, haven't been able to install this on something that wasn't virtual yet.
 
I received a fm radio back when xp was being beta tested. after that nothing except the privilege of using the software for free till it ran out. guess thats not so bad LOL
 
I got a free license for doing nothing.


Which is nice.
 
It took my 4 times to pass my drivers license test.

Just wanted to throw that out there

:smoker:
 
MS Connect.


I have a spare 400Gb Perp drive at home I will try. And the whole setup for Server 03' is in the setup files. I don't know if the keys will work with just a server 03 install or not. Might have to try.


I never graduated from high school.
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
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