Through the GUI, I fired up the firewall:    

With several policies to configure, setting up the firewall is the longest, and likely the most important part of the process.  Without a properly configured firewall, your network is not well protected from unauthorized outside access.  Now, the use of non-routable IPs does go a long way to stopping tampering, but it is not enough.  The Netwinder allows you to easily define which ports (if IPs are the addresses to your network, 'ports' are like the doors) are open and accessible.  Also, you are able to create general policies to accept or deny specific kinds of traffic.

Conclusions and cups of coffee

I had zero trouble setting this box up.  The admin features (like policy editing on the Firewall) mean that once the Netwinder is set up, you're able to decide what the Netwinder does and doesn't do. This means that it doesn't step on the toes of any of the expensive hardware that may already be present in a networked office environment. Infact, giving the mundane DHCP and DNS duties to the Netwinder may free up a powerful computer in many office situations which can be put to much better uses. Looking at it from that perspective, it all comes down to the difference in cost between setting up a computer, with all the necessary software, and Netwinder.

That said, at $1,995.00, the Netwinder is a bit pricey for the hardware its made up of. We should however keep in mind that it is not just barebones computer, but a 'solution'.  The bottom line comes down to this: the Netwinder does what it's supposed to do.  It provides easy, out-of-the-box functionality that every small office can make good use of. It does its job well, with a small footprint and without any complaints. 

Considering all those points it's hard not to see the Netwinder OfficeServer as pretty good value for the money.  So, on a scale from 1 to 10, it gets a well earned 8.