Thanks for all of the great comments and e-mails over the last few days - it is hard to know where to start in answering all of the questions.  But, since this one often gets asked by 1 or more people ....

"Why don't you put Exchange in Windows Home Server?"

There are a lot of reasons why the first version of Windows Home Server will not provide any e-mail functionality for a family:

1. 86% of consumers in broadband homes with 2 or more computers are ""very satisfied" with their hosted e-mail solution.   
• Interestingly, consumers usually have 2 or more "e-mail" accounts, one for communicating with friends and one for all of that other stuff (e.g. site registrations, e-commerce shipping information, etc.).
• They often use the free e-mail accounts from their broadband provider and they also have a free e-mail account from 1 or more of the Big 4 (MSN Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, or Yahoo).
• They like the convenience of a hosted e-mail solution.
2. Microsoft has a product - Windows Small Business Server - that comes with Microsoft Exchange integrated in.   Windows Small Business Server (SBS) scales to up to 75 users and I know a few people that use it to host e-mail for their family and friends.  If you really want to host your own on-premise e-mail server in your home - then use Windows SBS.
3. We are trying to keep the cost of Windows Home Server low ... and if we keep integrating in lots of other products - then as you might expect the price will have to go up.

We strive to make the right decisions based on our customer research.  And we will continue to do research to see if over time consumers do really want to host their own e-mail infrastructure... 

 t.