While the one year birthday of this site was back in late July, early adopters will remember that it was approximately one year ago this week that HP began shipping the MediaSmart Server. The first units got to customers the week of and the week after Thanksgiving. To commemorate, I thought I would recap some of the most memorable highs and lows that have occurred over the past year as relate to the MediaSmart Server and MediaSmartServer.net.
- Nov 5 2007 – Microsoft launches Windows Home Server and presales of the MediaSmart Server begin
- Late Nov 2007 – HP ships the MediaSmart Server, first customers begin receiving their servers
- Nov 29 2007 – Jerry McCollom (JRock on the forums) releases his Light Show Settings Add-in
- Early Dec 2007 – MyHomeServer.com starts as the first MSS enthusiast site (that I am aware of) to be run completely off of a MediaSmart Server
- Dec 5 2007 – The first MSS memory upgrade guide that I am aware of is published by MyHomeServer.com
- Dec 20 2007 – Microsoft announces the Data Corruption bug
- Jan 3 2008 – HP announces the February Update, which our forum members had already found mentioned in the shipping help documents. We would finally see this release in late July.
- Jan 6 2008 – Microsoft announces PP1 at the CES tradeshow in Las Vegas. I’m also there, talking to press, customers, and even a few early MediaSmartServer.net members.
- Jan 9 2008 – Discussions begin about how to upgrade the CPU in the MSS
- Jan 25 2008 – HP releases the first software update for the MediaSmart Server
- Feb 10 2008 – Discussions begin about the debug port on the MSS motherboard. Forum member ymboc spends about 6 weeks working on this until he finds the solution, at which point JRock promptly publishes the electrical diagram that would have saved ymboc tons of work.
- Feb 12 2008 – MediaSmartServer.net launches a Wiki to record the best info and tutorials posted on the forums.
- March 14 2008 – One of the more important MSS discussions comes up, to remove or not remove the plastic “skins” on your server
- March 18 2008 – HP releases a client software update
- March 27 2008 – I announce that I’m leaving HP to move on to other pursuits, yet will continue to grow the MediaSmartServer.net community
- April 12 2008 – Discussions begin about getting a dual-core processor to work in the MSS
- May 2 2008 – Jerry McCollom (aka Jrock on the forums) releases his Drive Labeler add-in, which correctly labels drives in the Server Console
- May 9 2008 – Forum member cakalapati begins making and selling VGA and serial cables to connect to the debug port on the MSS motherboard
- May 21 2008 – HP releases and then promptly pulls the 1.2 update due to issues with the update
- July 2 2008 – I release the MSS Fan Control Add-In to the delight of Speedfan users everywhere
- July 21 2008 – Microsoft releases PP1 which arguably makes Windows Home Server what it was meant to be and should have been from the beginning
- July 21 2008 – Coinciding with PP1, HP releases the 1.3 update, delivering PacketVideo and McAfee add-ins, Vista 64 support, and numerous fixes and enhancements
- Aug 11 2008 – I released the WHS BDBB Add-In to address the loss of this feature from PP1
- Sept 13 2008 – MediaSmartServer.net undergoes a significant facelift and the addition of this blog
- Sept 14 2008 – Forum member diehard stuffs a PopCorn Hour media receiver into his MediaSmart Server. That’s not natural, but it sure is fun and useful!
- Oct 1 2008 – I have the honor of being presented with a 2008 Microsoft MVP award for Windows Home Server
- Nov 13 2008 – HP starts offering some great price incentives, presumably to clear out stock on preparation for the rumored Encore next-generation MediaSmart Server
- Nov 25 2008 – Forum member jacmay builds a new base to house the debug ports for his MediaSmart Server.
- Nov 30 2008 – We see some possible new SKUs for the MediaSmart Server that appear to be further indications that Encore is on the way.
I know, I know, I didn’t capture every single event and apologies if I left anyone important out. However I hope this goes to show how much we’ve put into and gotten out of this MediaSmart Server enthusiast community. Who would have thought a home server could be so much fun?
Article by Alex Kuretz
I'm Alex Kuretz, and I'm the founder of MediaSmartServer.net. I was the Lead Test and Integration Engineer at HP for the MediaSmart Server until April 2008 when I moved on to other opportunities outside HP. I've kept active in the Windows Home Server community, creating several add-ins and helping users make the most of their Home Servers.
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Thanks for the trip down memory lane, and the plug on Turducken (MSS+PCH-100). I’m hoping for a New Year’s gift of a new
MSS (encore) or MSS OS Backup.