Yesterday BusinessWeek posted a good story about the rapidly growing home server category, led by Windows Home Server and the HP MediaSmart Server. It includes mention of the Stay at Home Server campaign and Forrester Research's prediction that there will be 4.5 million households with home servers by 2012.
The goal of Home Server products is to keep things simple. The devices come with two cables—one for power and the other to connect to the home computer system. Consumers need to slip a disc into their PC, answer five questions, then they're up and running, with their files backed up automatically every day. "We've stripped away the complexity," says [Microsoft's Steven] VanRoekel.
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The Windows Home Server team is growing and we're looking to hire a bunch of great new people!
We have a variety of engineering roles available in the development, test, and program management. There are even marketing positions open!
We are looking for individual contributors as well as leads.
Most of the positions are for our Redmond, WA offices, but we also have openings in Shanghai China.
Go to www.microsoft.com/jobs and do a keyword search for "Windows Home Server" to find all of the job descriptions. Check back frequently because we are posting new jobs regularly. Below are a few examples:
(If these links don't work for you, just go to www.microsoft.com/jobs and search for "Windows Home Server" or the job codes above).
Our hiring bar is high, so expect an intense interview process if you apply. We work hard, we play hard, and we try not to take ourselves too seriously. If you do join us you'll need a great work ethic, a passion for the consumer customer, and at least some smidgen of a sense of humor.
So quit goofing off and come join us as we continue the phenomenal early success of Windows Home Server "v1" and engage on the next phase of our super-secret master plan to put a server in every home.
-cek
We included these fun little customer stories in our press release from CES, but I wanted to get them up on the blog, too. Tell us your Home Server stories!
Brian Driscall used Home Server to quickly restore all of his 9-year-old son’s progress on the “LEGO Star Wars” video game, after his 4-year-old son had deleted the information. “I saved the day for my son,” Driscall said. “I love being able to stream music, videos and pictures from my home server, too. We had some friends over recently, and we were able to show them pictures from our Thanksgiving vacation on our TV.”
Brian Irvin is a technical sergeant in the New York Air National Guard, stationed in Antarctica. He posts videos of himself to the server back home, so he can stay connected with his wife and children. “The kids really love it. My 5-year-old daughter even talks to the computer while the videos are playing,” Irvin said. “I’m able to read my kids a bedtime story, even though I’m on the other side of the planet.”
Also, check out Todd on "the Beeb" from CES. (Click "Watch Now" and fast forward to about the 2 minute mark.)
Good weekend,