A free beta version of the newest edition of Microsoft's Windows Home Server--code-named Vail--is available for download.

Unveiled online Monday, Microsoft assures four most important changes in Vail: the capacity to stream music and video outside your home network through the Internet, easier back-up and reinstallation of files on multiple PCs, simpler, more user friendly setup and overall administration, and the creation of your own add-ins and services to incorporate with Vail through a new software developers kit. Vail is only for a 64-bit OS only, not for 32-bit system. Since it's a beta, Microsoft suggests installing it on different system before on your home system. Finally, Vail will need a computer with as a minimum a 1.4GHz x64 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 160GB of disk space.