Trilight Zone

[tricore]

Windows Home Server is going into broader beta, and Microsoft is taking applications for testers.

I signed up last night under one of several pseudonyms, and one probably fairly well known at Microsoft -- so, there are no secrets, just pretend ones. Prospective candidates must fill out a beta survey. Past experience shows these betas fill up pretty quickly.

The evangelism for Home Server has been quite concerted, since Microsoft announced the product about six weeks ago. There is now a Windows Home Server Blog, which joins promotional site Center for Digital Amnesia Awareness. Matt Pietrek has kept a running day-by-day diary of using Windows Home Server. The most recent entry, Day 8, is from January 30. What about the last two weeks?

No surprise: There are Home Server videos at Microsoft's Channel 9 and 10. There is a Home Server Flickr group.

Microsoft's Home Server evangelism is clearly targeted at enthusiasts, and there is something to be said for the approach. Enthusiasts are great influencers, and they sometimes gain a better grasp of what products can do than Microsoft. As testers, in their excitement, they create new usage scenarios that could open up unplanned market opportunities.