According to Wikipedia, Entomophobia is defined as the abnormal fear of or aversion to insects and similar arthropods, and even other "bugs", such as worms. Commonly, this condition might be referred to as the "Fear of insects or bugs". This condition causes a slight to severe emotional reaction, a form of anxiety or a panic attack.

 

Here on the Windows Home Server team we have a mild case of Entomophobia. We have a bit of an infestation when it comes to bugs, 3377 of them have been submitted by beta participants to date. Can someone please pass the can of insect spray?

 

Not all bugs are bad, when it comes to software development, bugs provide you with insight into what areas of the product need improvement and ultimately help you to build a better product. Below is a quick statistical summary of the bugs we have received so far.

 

Before we get to the exciting bug discussion I should take a moment to introduce myself. I'm Chris Sullivan, I am a Program Manager on the Windows Home Server team that helps manage support and the beta program. Keeping track and resolving your bugs is my mission. On to the bug discussion...
 

Bugs vs. Suggestions:

Type of Bug	# of Bugs Received	% of Total Received
Bugs	2385	71%
Suggestions	992	29%
Grand Total	3377

 

For the beta program we have bug submissions split into two categories:

• Bugs: is an error, flaw, failure or fault in WHS that prevents it from behaving as intended.
• Suggestions:  a thought or idea on improvements or changes to the current behavior of WHS.

 

As you can see we have been receiving a good amount of suggestions. It's worth noting that we do take the time to review all suggestions, but we unfortunately don’t have the time to respond to each suggestion personally. 

 

Total Bugs Received:

Bug Status	# of Bugs Received	% of Total Received
Active	1235	37%
Closed	1237	37%
Resolved	905	27%
Grand Total	3377

 

As you can see we still have 1235 active bugs, of which 740 are suggestions.  Active bugs are bugs that are either under investigation, pending a response from a participant or waiting to be investigated. Suggestions are generally left active, as we do a more thorough review we will resolve and close them.

 

Closed and Resolved Bugs:

Resolution Type	# of Bugs Closed/Resolved	% of Total
By Design	274	13%
Duplicate	568	27%
External	155	7%
Fixed	314	15%
Not Repro	444	21%
Postponed	229	11%
Won't Fix	158	7%
Grand Total	2142

 

The table above excludes suggestions and focuses on the resolution of bugs.

 

Types of Resolutions:

• Fixed:  The Windows Home Server team is aware the bug exists and has checked in new code to fix the  bug in a future build. This bug could be reopened and "fixed" is not necessarily a promise that the bug will be fixed in the next release.
• Won’t Fix / By Design:  The team is aware of the situation and may or may not address it in later builds or versions.  Often times, what seems to be a simple fix or ask may be more complicated than you assume.
• Not repro:  Could not obtain enough information to reproduce and resolve the issue. For example, if you submit a bug and the Windows Home Server team asks for more information but you do not respond within a week, the bug will be set to No Repro. It’s very important to check your bug(s) frequently to make sure you are responding back to our requests.
• Postponed:   The bug or suggestion has been reviewed and it has been determined to be an issue/feature request that the team will revisit at a later point in time.

 

As you can see we have our work cut out for us. The bugs and suggestions received so far have been invaluable. It is clear from the sheer number of bugs and the quality of the bugs submitted that we have an amazing group of people involved in our beta program. It has been a great experience to be involved with this product and our wonderful community. Thank you for your help and participation.

 

Keep those suggestions and bugs coming!

 

C

Thanks for the replies, although some of you are still answering it from your "I installed this product and here is what I like" perspective.  Try the other hat on .... here is what my household members think of it ... (Note:  only works if you live with other people).  

"Bucko" provided a good synopsis of selling points trying to convince a prospective customer, but "j and v" really hit the nail on the head.  How do I convince my wife that I can spend $xxx to buy this, or better yet how do I convince her to buy it for "us" for my birthday?

"dubbug" provided an interesting challenge and asked for a synopsis of quotes from "confused end users".  Sounds like a great topic for a future blog post.  I have read some interesting things in the home server forums, which has led me to firmly believe that 2 things are needed:

• A collection of Technical Briefs that explain the inner workings of Windows Home Server, including how Automated Backup, Drive Extender, and Remote Access work, in detail.  I have added that to my long list of things to get done...and the list has more than 3 things on it.
• A high-level overview of the benefits of a home server and why a household would need one ... that is also on my list.

Hopefully, you have all had time to read the Getting Started Guide and the Reviewers Guide for Windows Home Server posted on http://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer (click on "Downloads" on the left).  So today's question is:

What additional documentation / knowledge can we share with you?  If I could produce a 5-6 page document, what would be the title of it?

t.

How do you explain the benefits of Windows Home Server to the "end user" (not the administrator of Windows Home Server, but the person who you may need to convince or explain why this software is important, cool, or some other adjective du jour) in a home?  How do you get them to be excited about a new piece of technology - how do they see the benefits?

Here are some of the things I have heard from real people with the software:

• "Fixing up the Kid's PC after they have made a mess of it, is so easy with the computer restore functiionality" 
• "I gave my roommate R/W privileges to the Photos folder and he accidentally deleted a handful of pictures.  I used previous versions to recover it - he was happy, I was ecstatic!"
• "My wife loves that all of our music is available through the old stereo with the Roku M1000 hooked up to it."

In a sense the home server is invisible until something goes wrong (e.g. restoring a PC or set of files) or it is providing a service (e.g. media streaming) that people aren't quite sure how it all works. 

I would love to hear other people's experiences in explaining the benefits of Windows Home Server to the "end users" in the home or even better true stories with real quotes .... Feel free to e-mail them or reply as comments to this post.