Microsoft CES Keynote, Microsoft Home Server and my Sister's Husky

I'm watching the Bill Gates CES keynote today.

For me, the coolest announcement is the Microsoft Home Server.  Automated backup of all your home PC data, connectivity to other PCs, Zune, XBox, and also remote connectivity without complexity. 

I created a similar home server setup myself using a low-power PC, Windows Server 2003, and a series of virtual machines (as discussed previously) -- but the Windows Home Server emphasis on simplicity would have saved me a lot of time.  And I'd get things like dynamic use of storage which I don't have today.

From this video of Microsoft Home Server it looks like the user experience is intuitive enough to let a typical family member (not an omigeek) set up and manage their shared content.

So -- what does this photo of my sister's husky pup have to do with this?  That's exactly the sort of "digital memory" I'd want to manage with Microsoft Home Server.  Yes, I upload pics like this one to Flickr, but I also have an enormous number of raw images from my Nikon that I don't put online, which inevitably end up scattered across different laptops.

After all, between Elizabeth and Jason have two husky dogs.   That makes for an awful lot of adorable photos to manage.

You can watch the Bill Gates CES keynote yourself here. There's also a Microsoft at CES blog.

Some cool things in the Bill Gates CES Keynote (I am 40 minutes in now):

@ 17 minutes in: XBox360 Controller + Windows Live Local = Navigate street-level Vegas in 3D

@ 20 minutes in: Windows Photo Gallery + Windows DVD Maker

@ 22 minutes in: GroupShot from Microsoft Research -- watch this! Check it out yourself with this free download!  cool!!