It would seem, when all else fails you load a crap OS on to a super expensive machine and start marketing them as servers to kids and moms! I am talking about, well, Windows Home Server. Now Microsoft is all set to make children understand the Stay-At-Home Server by using a children’s book. Yes you heard it right! OK hold a sec there, back up a bit. First of all, can someone please explain me this whole concept of a home server? What is a home server and what exactly will it do or rather what extra functionality is it going to provide that is not already provided by the good o’l desktop. I was reading through the features list, and what a bunch of b**l s**t. A server for backup and photo sharing! You could do that with your lap and desktops as well, and yeah automatically too. They even go on to imply it could be used as a web-server. The last time I checked home internet plans explicitly forbid the use of their IPs for web servers. Oh yeah, on the same page, please read the disclaimers in small print. “Please contact your broadband service provider”, yeah right! It’s not Microsoft’s problem it’s the service provider’s problem. Wonder why the service providers are so paranoid about security? Maybe because it could be used for all illegal stuff, but hey, that’s just the service provider’s problem.

Ports, IP addresses, service providers, TOCs, subnets, DNS servers, name resolvers, firewalls, web-servers, hand-shakes, packet-fragmentation, VoIPs, streaming media. Kids, wasn’t this all taught in kindergarten to you. Hmm… maybe it should be, then you can be CCIEs by the time you graduate.