Focus Groups and Customer Quotes

We have been doing a bunch of research, both qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative (web surveys) to gain insight into how to position and market Windows Home Server to enthusiasts and families.  From all of this research we have found that people understand the value of having a "home server" and understand the power and the simplicity of the solution.   People understand what a "server" is and they also see a "home server" as a new category of product that they both need and want. 

The various features and benefits of Windows Home Server appeal to different people for different reasons.  Some people fall in love with the "automated PC backup" capabilities, some people adore the "remote access" features, and others like the easily expandabled shared folders (Windows Home Server Drive Extender).  Others like the integrated aspects of all of these features into a easy-to-use product. 

I love reading the transcripts of the focus groups and the verbatim quotes of the participants.  My favorite quote of the day is:

  "You can rewrite a document, but you can't rewrite a photo"

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Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Are you able to share any of the data at all regarding what sort of people want home server and such? I have a number of friends who are annoyingly skeptical about Home Server. Also, I'm a little curious myself about the research and 'focus group' stage of the process which I don't think I've read much about in other Microsoft blogs beyond some of data talked about on the Jensen Harris Office UI blog.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Generally I'm pretty skeptical about any new Microsoft product, but I have to say that I have been genuinely excited about Home Server since I first read about the set of features it has.  I haven't found any one other product that offers automated backups, RAID-like duplication without the RAID hassle, and the remote access capabilities that Home Server offers.  It's really comforting to know that if one drive in my home server fails, I won't be losing any data, because it's all duplicated on another drive in the machine. I haven't had a chance to install the CTP version yet, but I have read through the documentation, and there's a couple of features I'd really like to see that I'm pretty sure aren't covered in the latest release.  I'd really like to see the ability to plug a USB or Firewire hard drive into the server and have the option to back up the server to that drive, as an offsite backup.  It would be nice if that backup could include server and user account settings, and computer backups, rather than just the shared folders.  That way if the system drive crashes, the system settings and user permissions could be easily restored rather than needing to be manually reconfigured. The other feature I'd really like to see is Home Server Connector software and automatic backups for Mac OSX.  Having a graphic designer in the house, there's an iMac with a pooly-organized hard drive and no easy method for performing backups.  Having the Connector software on that machine and having it automatically backed up the same way the PCs are would give me a lot more peace of mind about keeping all of our data safe and secure. All in all, Home Server is an excellent product so far.  I've had to remind myself a few times that I'm running a beta version, because it has run so smoothly that it's easy to forget that it's still in development.  Even without the requested features I mentioned, I still plan to purchase Home Server when it is officially finished and released.  Keep up the great work!