Both the GUI for admin, and their suite of applications. Both Synology and QNAP have on-line NASes for interactive demo uses - if you want to see.
I took a look at the Synology demo, very cool desktop approach, thank you for pointing it out to me.
All of the functionality that GUI offers is available through FreeNAS, logging, media server, etc. But it is not integrated, as it is in the Synology GUI. Openfiler offers no where near the degree of integration, or even the functionality through the GUI.
Ubuntu does offer all of the functionality, but not through a web interface.
The closest I've seen to something as slick as the Synology interface is that of NexentaStor, you can find screen shots of it on the web - and in their
user guide, but it is only close, it still looks like a web interface.
I think the compelling thing about consumer solutions, which you point out, is that they are highly integrated and supported. But that comes at a price, DIY solutions tend to be significantly cheaper, and sometimes less capable, but they are open and often without the same limitations. I can upgrade the memory, add software to the shell, run other interfaces ( like fibre ) on a DIY solution - outside the scope of a consumer product.
Consumer products try to appeal to the widest category of users, from novice to expert. DIY solutions appeal to the technical hobbyists and expert users.
Does that help?
