<p>For all you IT experts out there, here’s a question for you. Several years ago, I set up a peer to peer network in my office using Windows XP Professional on all the “workstations” (10 of them) and on another mini tower used as a “server” to hold shared document files (no multi user applications). Our email and website were hosted by our ISP. A couple of years later, I was talked into getting a “real” server with Windows Server 2003 for exactly the same scope of usage plus we installed Symantec Anti-virus which gets "pushed down to all the workstations.</p>
<p>Today, we use the server for the same functions plus I installed a multi-user network version of a time and billing software. No other applications are run on the server and it essentially serves as a shared document warehouse. The capacity of the server’s hard drive is getting a bit taxed and I want to move towards a paperless office. The cost of a new server and Windows Server 2003 with more “licenses” is ridiculous. What I am wondering is if there is any reason I can’t simply get a high capacity, fast mini tower with a couple of 1 T hard drives, running XP Pro as the OS and simply go back to doing things the old simpler way. Again, it would be used only as a warehouse for shared documents and to run the multi-user time and billing program. Any thoughts?</p>