Windows Home Server was barely out and shipping to original equipment manufacturers and system builders when Microsoft revealed that it was going back on its original plans for the product. Apparently, Windows Home Server needed some additional hammering and the Redmond company did not hesitate to debut work on an update for the code barely-gone gold. WHS was released to manufacturing in mid July, and Hewlett Packard was among the Microsoft partners scheduled to hit the market ahead of the competition with the MediaSmart Server. This will no longer be the case, as HP announced that it will wait for the availability of the WHS update before including the product on MediaSmart Server.

Microsoft's explanation of the update was that it had identified multiple ways of improving the RTMed Windows Home Server, although the code was supposed to be finalized. According to the Redmond company, the updates are designed to improve usability and to ensure the delivery of the top out-of-the-box experience of home server solutions. Aiming to offer customers the best experience possible is also how HP motivated postponing the availability of MediaSmart Server.

HP's MediaSmart Server preloaded with Windows Home Server was planned for availability in mid September. And it won't be much longer at this point in time, since the top U.S. computer maker has got its hands on the WHS update. Neither Microsoft nor HP have officially confirmed this scenario. And at this point, the two companies have failed to indicate a date of availability.

Microsoft is already shipping the RTM version of Windows Home Server into the system builder channel. The Redmond company was also cooking an evaluation version (120 day worth of evaluation), and by the looks of things, the build will integrate the update and will be delivered by the end of September. HP's only comment on the matter was to confirm that MediaSmart Server with Windows Home Server will drop in time for the holidays.