A family affair

The other day I had the pleasure of speaking with a family using (and loving!) Home Server.  These folks - I'll call them the Smiths - are part of a group of relatively non-techie consumers to whom we've provided the product, in order to better understand how typical families will actually use it.  No family is typical, of course.

"Jeff and Denise" Smith have 5 computers between themselves and 2 kids, including a "very wired 17 year-old."  They have lots of photos, music and home videos centralized on their Home Server.  They told me they use Zunes and Media Player to discover and (usually) enjoy each other's music stored on Home Server.  They also love the remote access capabilities for sharing photos with familiy in Arizona.

What I found most interesting is how Home Server is helping them with their two home-based businesses, a video production company (Jeff) and a corporate gift basket and commercial packaging biz (Denise.)  Video takes up lots 'o space, as we all know.  Home Server's storage helps Jeff consolidate it all in one place...no more drive letter/external drive/CD insanity.  And he really values how he can easily add more space as he needs it.  Backup saved his bacon the other day, too.  A video project got corrupted, but he simply restored it from a Home Server backup.  "I lost 30 minutes instead of, perhaps, a client." 

The bottom line for the Smiths is that they "are very excited about this product."  For them Home Server's top benefits are its ease of use and the "peace of mind" knowing that all of their home business and family data is backed up and more organized.  That's certainly music to our ears... 

J