Is WHS being discontinued

[wayner]

WHS is being offered for very low prices - as low as $50 which is even cheaper than Win7 clients. Does this mean that MS is having a "going out of business" sale for WHS?

[Fuzzy]

personally, I feel WHSv2 should be the cheapest version on windows, as it has the fewest OS features.

[jorton]

Originally Posted by wayner

WHS is being offered for very low prices - as low as $50 which is even cheaper than Win7 clients. Does this mean that MS is having a "going out of business" sale for WHS?

I read a couple rumors today that they may be trying to make up for the lack of hardware vendors using it by putting the price down to get it out there. I think that Acer is the only company using it. Also, it's only really been available for a couple months so it seems a bit early for dumping it.

I got my copy of WHS2011 a month ago for a good price but $50 is a really good deal.

J

[wayner]

I wonder with V1 how many WHS licenses were bought as an integrated hardware solution and how many were DIY types of solutions? I would imagine that the DIY market would be not unlike the Sage market - pretty much limited to geeks who don't mind getting their hands dirty with their PCs.

[gplasky]

2 reasons. As stated above, no OEM hardware vendors means no large volume sales. This could be one reason. The other is because they removed drive extender and pissed a lot of people off. A low price is a way to seduce them back. If you need the drive extender technolgy there are 3 companies out there that can fit the bill. IMO $50 is a more realistic price for a "Home" server.

Gerry

[rhinoman]

I've picked a copy up, £37 in the UK which is fine, its a cheap piece of backup server that's set and forget even though I use my Unraid for my storage needs. Don't know when I'll get round to upgrading the old WHS but its nice to have.

[lpitman]

WHS is not being discontinued...but because of lack luster sales and drive pool disappointments, the cost is being adjusted to make it more attractive and to provide a better installed base.

[wayner]

But given the poor sales record and (approximately $50) retail price, which means the wholesale price is somewhat less, does it make financial sense for MS to continue with the product? I know it is just a scaled down version of Windows Server but it is still going to cost some money to develop it as a separate product. Does it make sense to do so when you are a company with a market cap of $225B?

Does MS have other similar products that sell for such a low price with low sales?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by wayner

Does MS have other similar products that sell for such a low price with low sales?

I'm guessing win7 starter and basic are priced similarly at wholesale, and would be comparable as far of extent of feature set (not the same features, but the same number/complexity of features).

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by wayner

But given the poor sales record and (approximately $50) retail price, which means the wholesale price is somewhat less, does it make financial sense for MS to continue with the product? I know it is just a scaled down version of Windows Server but it is still going to cost some money to develop it as a separate product. Does it make sense to do so when you are a company with a market cap of $225B?

Does MS have other similar products that sell for such a low price with low sales?

I'm not sure where the pricing is but these are basically the same code-based products: Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2011 Essentials. So it's not any extra work being done.
Windows SBS 2011 lists at $545. But keep in mind that supports 25 users and doesn't require CALs for a domain login. I think for what essentially is a home-based product it is priced correctly and should generate some decent sales. You really don't need to use add-ins if you don't want so now you have an affordable Windows 2008 R2-based server for home. (Without domain features and other things home users really don't need.)

Gerry