If someone tried to sell me a new car I would evaluate that on its merits too.

As a side note, I’d like to say that my relationship to MS is somehwat more complicated than some of my posts might suggest, as I’ve actually been supportive of their entry in the video game market. Some of the console games I’ve designed have had Xbox releases, and they’ve always looked better/played better than the PS2/GameCube versions. I am wary of them, but I also don’t want them to just disappear. I feel the same way about MS that I do about the U.S. in general: I’d just like them to be smaller and less powerful, but I do value their contribution.

BTW, I think it’s great that you put up links to the blogs on the maintenance page (i.e. when the main site is down). Not that I don’t like dolphins, but…

All right, I should get back to work. Those games don’t make themselves (yet!)

A.

I agree with your general wariness of Microsoft, but I don’t let that overshadow when they actually fill a void. Since there’s nothing on the market that does this in any fashion that is generally usable, I have to stand behind this until given a reason not to.

The “whining” was more the fact that very few comments addressed the value of the device, but many (not just yours) expressed a general distrust and dislike of Microsoft. We get it. We agree. But no hard feelings. I think I speak for all OSNews’ers when I say that we value all participation, especially yours and the other most frequent posters.

Thanks for checking out the blog.

I felt that your comment on people whining concerned me somewhat…I did want to say that I – I can’t speak for others – don’t think WHS is a *bad* idea in itself. Heck, it clearly fills a need, since I myself have built on central file sharing repository, and am thinking of adding a backup system with rsync (as soon as I buy an extra HD

However, while I do think this will fit a need, I am wary of MS encroaching itself further in the home market. I think it has enough of a stranglehold on the home market to be excited by such a prospect. You may say that these are purely political motives, and that these considerations are irrelevant to you, however I personally view these things in a pragmatic way: no competition means less innovation, and increased prices in the long run. It’s not a matter of a company being good or bad, but simply that monopolies (and near-monopolies) are *dangerous* for an industry. I think this explains why so many posters are (justifiably or not) so hostile to Microsoft, and that’s not something you can just casually brush off.

That said, and this was my main argument in the messages (which may have been misconstrued as “whining”, though it really wasn’t), I do not believe that MS can corner this market, simply because its competitive advantages here are slim. It’s not so much that MS has had difficulties with hardware products before (the xbox and the MS mice being exceptions), but rather that *if* such a product takes off, it will be relatively easy for competitors to offer similar products, at a lower cost. I also noted that the MS and Windows brands, while easily recognized, cannot be expected to generate positive buzz about the product (again, if you look at the Xbox/Xbox360 marketing, Microsoft’s name is never prominently displayed).

So all in all I think this is a good move by MS…but I hope that other companies follow suit and offer better/cheaper products, because I *definitely* don’t want another MS product in every home.

Peace out,

archiesteel

Hey, maybe you should just quietly migrate your stuff to your blog/s and just not tell the “masses”, leaving them behind…

/wishful thinking
/venting