I wrote before about my new HP MediaSmart Home Server, as well as the fact that there is no 64-bit client support available yet. In the end, it seems the Microsoft Vista team had to make a change to the OS to fix an unrelated issue, and the cascading effect of that change was that certain native backup capabilities on 64-bit Windows clients (upon which Home Server relied) got broken. All that happened while Home Server was in development.

Well anyhow, looks like the CES show will be the place where HP will announce a soon-available client for 64-bit Vista. I’m happy, because Windows Home Server and the HP MediaSmart hardware and software are pretty darned great stuff, if you ask me.

So - thank you in advance, HP. The AV software from McAfee (note that Avast! also recently released an AV package for WHS), enhanced media streaming and other features will be nice to take a look at, as well. Good deal!

News and some detail can be found here:

• Anti-Virus Protection, Enhanced Media Streaming and Vista x64 Compatibility Coming to the HP MediaSmart Server Jan 3, 2008 (link to wegotserved.co.uk)
• The Windows Home Server Team Answer Your Questions! October 4, 2007 (link to wegotserved.co.uk, contains background about the development process including the 64-bit client problems they encountered)