Apple is better at focusing at doing a few things right. Apple needs a set-top
box that is a DVD/CD player, can rip CDs, has a fat 3.5″ HD (200GB is now
cheap), Ethernet, WiFi built-in (but not a base station), USB ports, FireWire,
and AV connectors to connect to your TV and sound system. That’s it. No
RAID. No permanent DVD rips. It’s unneccessary. They even
have 2 options: beef up the iPod firmware or strip down the Mac OS.

It would hold your iTunes library and other files. It could allow you to view
any QuickTime file on your TV. Host your home folder on
an iServe. It could have a web interface, but more importantly, it’d have a
remote control. It would work with Windows, but it would sell Macs.

And while your at it Steve…. why not bundle Parliant’s PhoneValet and
Indigo’s home automation software and throw in SecuritySpy just for good
measure? First class phone answering with email forwarding of telephone
messages coupled with an ability to control my home’s lights, temperature
and hot tub with a fulltime security guard to boot for any home would be a
nice extra.

Uh, no. That’s why the iServe would have a USB port. PhoneValet would be a
popular product for such a device, but let’s not shovel everything on this
device and
drive the price through the roof. An iServe would establish a new consumer
product category, the “household server”, and the potential market for 3rd
party add-
ons, software and hardware both, would be immense.

$500 is a great price point. I’ve been waiting for something like this for
several years, and I’d bet millions of others are as well.

Now that’s a nice digital huba-Buba!

Not giving people the choice to use whatever hardware they’d like, for iServe
functionality, could prove near-sighted. Meaning, if someone had to buy an
iServe (with specs that would no doubt rival that of an XServe), than they may
be less apt to use such a solution. And then there’s always price and setup.
Would the average user be able to use such a hardware solution? Possibly,
but only if it’s powered by extremely well thought out software.

I think that they’ve begun working towards something like your describing
already. With Rendezvous being built into iTunes, even for Windows, it won’t
be long (probably when Tiger is released) that many more applications will
have rendezvous (read: the ability to share) built-in, such as Address Book,
iCal, etc.

I think software is step 1 – step 2 would be killer hardware to leverage that
power.

—

Colin D. Devroe
Blog: http://theubergeeks.net/

However, perhaps there is a way to handle something "like" this using the
power of software. Perhaps allowing one of the Macs on your network
become the "Supernode" if you will, which would allow it to act as the iServe.
People do this all the time currently. People, meaning those who have more
than 1 computer in the home, usually designate each machine for specific
tasks like file storage, burning CDs, or browsing the Internet from the couch.

Creating a piece of software to work in conjunction with iTunes, iPhoto etc.
would allow users to designate 1 machine to keep everything organized. I
suppose this could be done now using network shares, but not everyone
knows how to set those up properly.

—–

Yes, this is certainly an option, but user/group management with OS X client
is not very simple. Also, when doing the above, most people would naturally
choose an old Mac, one that is perhaps noisy and one that uses a lot of
power. I’ve got a G3 iMac that I use for testing – I thought of leaving it on all
the time as a server, but then I’d have to un-wire the monitor so it doesn’t
waste too much power.

A software solution would be interesting; a hardware solution even more so.

I was merely saying it’d be cool. But there would definitely be drawbacks.
Consider the fact that the remote systems would never be allowed out of the
range of the central iServe. So drawbacks are a plenty!

However, perhaps there is a way to handle something "like" this using the
power of software. Perhaps allowing one of the Macs on your network
become the "Supernode" if you will, which would allow it to act as the iServe.
People do this all the time currently. People, meaning those who have more
than 1 computer in the home, usually designate each machine for specific
tasks like file storage, burning CDs, or browsing the Internet from the couch.

Creating a piece of software to work in conjunction with iTunes, iPhoto etc.
would allow users to designate 1 machine to keep everything organized. I
suppose this could be done now using network shares, but not everyone
knows how to set those up properly.

A lot of things to think about, since Wi-fi is starting to have some nice
throughput at relatively low cost. My Airport Express cost about $130USD,
not a bad price to pay for an incredibly easy 802.11g wireless network.

—

Colin D. Devroe
Blog: http://theubergeeks.net/

Like logging into a large unix system with very simple consoles.

—

Colin D. Devroe
Blog: http://theubergeeks.net/