I know that our focus at the moment is on Longhorn Server but I can't help but share the exciting news that Microsoft has publically announced the availability of the Windows Home Server Community Technology Preview (CTP).

I have been running a dedicated Windows Home Server (WHS) for some months now and due to NDA restrictions, have not been able to talk much about it or share any screenshots etc.

As someone with multiple machines in my home and *lots* of digital content across the machines, the ability to centrally & automatically back these machines up and share content centrally is fantastic. Not only this but you can access the content remotely through a web interface (Eg. upload those holiday photos from an Internet cafe) and even remotely control machines in the home as well. Throw in Windows Media Sharing and an XBox 360 and things just get better. (PLEASE Microsoft can be have a DivX/XviD codec on the 360?)

Here are some resources that might come in handy if you're interested in learning more about WHS.

Apply to join the beta team and get access to the Beta/CTP releases here.