Ok so I have had a blackberry for a couple years and I'm pretty convinced that I will never own another device.
My wife also has one.

What can a Unite server do?
from my understanding its kinda like a free BES but with limitations.

Does setting one of these up offer me any advantages?

I looked around on the the website and it seems really cool.

I guess a better question would be. For those of you have a Unite server, how do use it? What do you like and dislike about it?

I started to download Unite and heard many complaints about it. I heard that the computer has to be running for it to work. This would be a nightmare if I were out of town and the power went out. I am unsure if this is the case, though. Also, heard that Unite took up tremendous resources on computer. I have a PC that I need to have the RAM for due to certain apps and this wouldn't workout too well.

My solution was to spend the extra money and get Exchange hosting. It truly improved the function of my Blackberry and was worth every penny. Now I can go anywhere in the world and as long as I have a browser I have access to calendar, tasks, notes, and my email. I also put some of my files on the server so I can work outside of my home. Since I have two computers (One mac and one PC) they are always in sync between everything. Also Mailstreet gave me the most recent Entourage 2008 and Outlook 2007. This alone was worth some money to me. All in all, I am pleased with the decision to do this versus going the Unite route. However, Unite might be better in that it is free and that it doesn't require what I think it does (i.e. always on computer). If you want to investigate Mailstreet call and ask for Andy Hosler. He walked me through the entire setup from beginning to end. Very helpful guy.

Good luck!

Unite does require 1 system to always be on. I have Unite running on my system, i like it and setup was very easy. I do not use the mail part of it as my GF is on her company BES and I am very happy with getting my mail through the BIS. it is really fast I usually get my mail on my BB before my PC gets it. We do use shared calendar and shared contacts and those parts work great. If she adds something to her calendar that we both must do then she hits the menu and then share. and it goes onto my calendar and i am also sent a message saying it was added. The same goes for contacts. This works great for our needs. Everyones needs are different so your mileage may vary.

I attached a picture of all the processes that Unite takes up. It looks like a lot but I notice no real hit on my system. I am running Vista with 2GB of memory and it sits around 50% used for the entire system.

Yeah, I'm also leaning towards a BES solution since I don't want to have a PC as the "single point of failure" in the system. Also, I already have about 400 contacts and Unite! can't seem to import them (let alone calendar information).