NorthernTelework.ca

Microsoft on Wednesday released a new Community Technology Preview of Windows Home Server, the company’s new version of Windows that is designed to enable families with multiple PCs connect their home computers, digital devices and printers. The beta test is currently closed, but Microsoft is still accepting applications to join.

The interim update follows February’s Beta 2 release and includes a number of fixes, UI improvements and enhancements. Microsoft says it has improved the “out of box” experience with a 7-step setup process to easily configure the Home Server. Remote access and network health notifications have also been added, along with improved password settings and support for System Add-ins, which can be developed using the recently released Windows Home Server SDK.

Communications service provider, Wateen Telecom, part of the Abu Dhabi Group, plans to launch Wimax-based fixed line services in Uganda by the fourth quarter of the year.

The company is already in the final stages of completing a 22-city Wimax network implementation in Pakistan and its sister company, Warid Telecom, is planning to roll out GSM services in Uganda in parallel with its Wimax implementation.

US consumers have a “significant preference” for WiMax mobile wide area broadband over mobile cellular data and Wi-Fi services, research has revealed.

WiMAX has been slow to get off the ground, but Intel apparently believes that WiMAX access will be widespread enough to justify supporting it. In the US, Sprint plans to begin offering WiMAX in early 2008 in a number of US cities.