Just one week after Microsoft announced the second beta of the Windows Home Server, Joel Sider, Sr. Product Manager, Windows Server PR, revealed that the team had received in excess of 25,000 beta participation requests as of February 19, 2007. "The number of requests to participate in Beta 2 is now well north of 25,000. We're responding and getting invites out by the truckload. If you've submitted your request and haven't heard from us yet....stay tuned, we appreciate your patience," Sider said.

Windows Home Server managed to produce a consistent amount of enthusiasm immediately as the Redmond Company announced the Beta 2 phase. Windows Home Server is a product designed to be at the core of a home network delivering storage, back-up and anywhere access capabilities.

In his regard, the Windows Home Server team has made a presentation of the sharing capabilities. "Windows Home Server comes with a pre-defined set of shared folders: Photos, Music, Videos, Software and Public to enable families to share and access their favorite stuff from any PC in the house. And after installing the Windows Home Server Connector software on each PC, a shortcut named "Shared Folders on Server" is added to the desktop of each of your PCs," explained a member of the WHS team.

But the sharing features of Windows Home Server extend even to remote users. In this regard, users of Windows Home Server will be able to provide remote access to the server via a virtual private network. The only downside to this is that the connection is limited by bandwidth.