I have been following all of the activity going on at CES and I have to say that the one thing that I see of particular interest to me is the Microsoft Home Server. While I am not interested in purchasing it, it will certainly be a product that I will compare my home built server to.
The reality is that I probably already have the server installed in my house. I happen to have a machine that is running Windows Server 2003 which I understand is the core of the software package. I would not want to force that software package on the general public. I suspect, and fear, that Microsoft probably took what they learned from Small Business Server and applied it to this new software. In other words, they added a bunch of wizards and automated processes to the existing software. This is fine as long as the consumer stays on the well trodden path, but if they go off the beaten path, they better have some understanding of the real software underneath.
As for MacWorld, I was actually waiting to purchase a new wide screen video iPod. I own a couple of older 20GB iPods that have been getting long in the tooth and wanted the ability to actually SEE the video on the screen should I download TV or movie videos.
To here that it won't be released until the Summer is disconcerting.
The new iPhone does sound like an outstanding convergence product though. The only things it seemed to be missing was an integrated GPS unit and the ability to work with multiple cellular carriers. I happen to use Verizon and to use this phone would mean that I would have to change carriers. That means that all of my employees would have to change carriers as well as all of my family members. While that may happen, it seems highly unlikely.
Lastly, I wanted to mention my server. I spent some time researching the non error that I am getting and it appears that I have to tear everything out and try to install one piece at at time to see where the error occurs. I did disconnect two of the hard drives on the off chance that I was overloading the power supply. I only have a 380 watt unit in there currently but I think it is big enough to support the components.
Tomorrow I will strip everything out but the CPU, memory, and keyboard. Then I will see if it boots. If not, then it has to be one of those components or the motherboard. The motherboard light comes on, and CPU fan, but neither of those indicate whether those components work correctly or not. Time will tell.
Actually this is kind of fun. Luckily I have no real timetable on getting this running so I can enjoy the debugging process.