In a move that we can only label as “What were they thinking?” Microsoft has apparently set its price so that computers running its Windows Home Server (WHS) software will be retailing at prices of US$599 and US$749, respectively.
This price seems completely out of line to us and we can’t imagine why consumers would even consider parting with their cash for a home server priced this high. Several online stores posted the servers with pricing on their sites briefly, including Amazon.com, PCMall.com and onSale.com. HP’s MediaSmart Home Server will reportedly be available in two models: 500GB of storage for $599 and 1TB of storage for $749, with the only difference being the amount of included storage.
Included with both models is an AMD 1.8-GHz Sempron processor, bundled with HP Photo Webshare software, an add-on to WHS that builds a photo-sharing Web site on the MediaSmart box. The amount of memory that is included was not listed. The two servers come with four internal drive bays for internal storage and four internal USB 2.0 ports.
HP did not comment on the MediaSmart leaks. The sites withdrew the pricing for the Home Server, and several took the entire listing off their sites. None of the other manufacturers that are reported to be manufacturing PCs with WHS have issued ship dates or pricing for their models.