servers

One of Windows Home Server's staunchest allies is now moving on.

HP has decided to discontinue its MediaSmart Server line of products featuring Windows Home Server. The news was confirmed by Microsoft on its Home Server Blog yesterday.

"HP has told us they do not plan to provide a platform for Windows Home Server, codenamed 'Vail,'" Microsoft wrote on its blog.

Microsoft went on to say that HP plans to sell its existing MediaSmart Server platform through the rest of the year "and will honor service support agreements."

HP reportedly confirmed the news to MediaSmartServer.… Read more

There wasn't exactly weeping and gnashing of teeth (at least that we know of), but a lot of loyal Mac users in IT departments were seriously disappointed a few weeks ago when Apple said that as of January 31 the assembly line churning out the Xserve would be permanently halted. There was talk from some of ditching Macs altogether at work in a fit of bitter disappointment, and in light of some anticipated major technical challenges.

With a few … Read more

As Apple continues to make its case for the iPhone (and iOS) being a better business phone solution, bugs in iOS 4.2.1 are causing problems for people using Microsoft Exchange 2003.

The issue arises specifically when using the Calendar App for events. When accepting or creating a calendar event invitation, users find that the invitation e-mail will not send to the intended recipient. TiPb reports that the problem seems to lie with the ActiveSync system on Exchange 2003.

Also problematic is the fact that some calendar events (whether accepted or created), when added to the Calendar App on … Read more

Comcast subscribers from Boston to Washington, D.C., found themselves without Internet access Sunday night after a major outage affected parts of the East Coast.

Reports first seemed to surface on Twitter last night from Comcast customers tweeting that their Internet service had gone down. Comcast's own customer service Twitter feed, known as Comcastcares, confirmed the outage, initially pointing to an issue in Boston but soon revealing that the problem was more widespread.

Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas told CNET through e-mail that last night Comcast engineers identified a server issue that affected Internet service for customers primarily in the … Read more

I've been following the evolution of client-side computing off and on for over 20 years. Remember ASCII terminals? Green screens? Beehives? X terminals? If you do, they're most likely dimming memories.

The history of client side computing is filled with efforts to shift the balance of power between the server (ne host) and the client device. Which side is responsible for what, and how the sides communicate with each other, determine the cost, control, security, flexibility, and richness of the result. Some years it's "do everything meaningful on the server." Others, "do most work … Read more

In the world of software, features come and go, though most of the time it's in the direction of growth.

Such has been the story of Windows Home Server--that is, up until now. Microsoft has announced that the next major version of the software, codenamed "Vail," will do away with what has arguably been one of the most user-friendly features: the drive extender.

This feature would let users take multiple hard drives of various sizes--like the ones that people might have left from old computers, or something they got at a Black Friday sale--and let them … Read more

HD music server maker Olive has launched a new product with a price tag that will undoubtedly shock some potential buyers.

Dubbed the O6HD, Olive calls device an "audiophile's dream" and has placed on it a $4,999 price tag--twice as much as Olive's previous top-level server, the O4HD.

The O6HD server includes 24-bit sound and a sample rate of up to 192KHz, giving users "more than 250 times the resolution of CDs," Olive said today in a statement. The server also comes with a sample rate converter that up-samples audio to 384KHz.

The … Read more

Apple has rereleased the OS X 10.6.5 update for the Server version of OS X. The update was initially available for download along with the client version, but was pulled a short while later with no explanation by Apple. This left people speculating about the reason on discussion forums.

Apple has now rereleased the update, and along with it issued a knowledgebase article stating the new release fixes a problem with the Mail service, where memory mismanagement would lead to mail being sent to or at least be read by the wrong account.

The rereleased update is available … Read more

Microsoft today unveiled its behind-the-scenes work on porting a popular suite of supercomputing software tools to its Azure cloud platform. It's work that culminated in an a test job that the company says would have cost an estimated $3 million if it had used traditional on-premises hardware, but it got the job done for a little more than $18,000 using a hybrid approach.

That job in particular, which is part of Microsoft's focus at Supercomputing 2010 conference in New Orleans, was done as a collaboration between Microsoft and the Seattle Children's Hospital. Together, the teams ran … Read more