West, who admits to the novelty appeal of the Home Servidor, is about to start marketing and selling the machines, each of which is custom built. The hardware uses Microsoft Home Server - software that can connect multiple computers and televisions in the home, automatically save large amounts of data on a backup disk drive, and make files on a home network accessible via a secure Internet connection.
West used to work as a database development consultant in Northern Virginia until he moved to Baltimore three years ago. While working at his 9-to-5 job, he started dabbling in building tiny applications that run on Microsoft's Vista operating system and participating in an active online community of developers. (Some of the gadgets can also run on Microsoft's Web-based programs, including Live.com and Windows Live Spaces.)
He became good enough at building these so-called "gadgets," which can interact with the Web to deliver fresh information to the user, to quit his job and launch his own company, called LiveGadgets.net.
