Microsoft's new product, Home Server, promises to make mundane tasks like media sharing and backup simpler for Joe Six Pack to deal with, but we've been wondering--is this really just a product for geeks? XP Media Center Edition was embraced by at least a portion of the geek populace, but outside the ranks of the nerdy, it never really got much attention. The entertainment industry didn't see it as appliance-like enough, we suppose. But Home Server is different--it's the piece of software that should have existed before Media Center Edition was ever produced, because it provides some of the nuts and bolts that, if coupled with Media Center Edition, could've made the latter a truly great offering. Lest we digress, Home Server fans now have one more reason to get excited: the addition of video conferencing and video-mail using Sightspeed.
First off, if you've never used Sightspeed, you should give it a shot. It's the most grandma-friendly video-conferencing app we've ever seen. With Home Server, Sightspeed will archive call recordings and video mail messages into the Home Server, making them reviewable from another PC, Mac, or even your XBox. The only thing that could top that would be video-conferencing on the XBox itself. Sightspeed says they have no plans to bring their client to Xbox, but we have a feeling it's coming.
