Windows Server 2008 test release due next week
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The first candidate for the final version of Microsoft's next server operating system is imminent, including a test version of the 'Viridian' virtualization software.
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Microsoft plans to issue a service pack for Visual Studio on Friday, as well as a version of the update specifically aimed at fixing issues with the software for those running Windows Vista.
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Clarification is avialable, however, customers may face a new set of rules when Windows Server 2008 is released.
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(InfoWorld) - When Microsoft unveiled the long-awaited details of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 on Wednesday, the company also quietly pushed back the release date for another highly anticipated product, Windows Server 2008. The update to Microsoft's server OS, formerly code-named "Longhorn," had been due for release by the end of the year, but the company said Wednesday that the new target for release is the first quarter of 2008. The e-mail was sent in conjunction with the timeline for and details of the release of Vista SP1, a service pack for the client OS that many customers have been waiting for before they upgrade to Vista. Microsoft also detailed the delay in a blog entry posted Wednesday on its Windows Server Division Weblog. The entry, attributed to Helene Love Snell, a group product manager in the Windows Server team, cited quality issues with the current build of the product as the reason for the delay. "Microsoft's first priority is to deliver a great product to our customers and partners, and while we're very happy with the feedback we're getting and the overall quality of the latest product builds, we would rather spend a little more time to meet the high quality bar that our customers and partners deserve and expect," Snell wrote in the post. Although product delays are par for the course with Microsoft, the company is planning a launch event in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 2008 for Windows Server 2008 and two other products -- SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 -- that it's touting as its next major wave of product releases. In fact, when Microsoft COO Kevin Turner unveiled the February launch at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in July, he called the products the "big dogs" of Microsoft's enterprise software products and the most significant product release the company will have in 2008. The trouble is, not all the products are guaranteed to be available on their official launch date, making it more of a marketing event than anything else. Visual Studio 2008 still is on track to be released by the end of 2008, though a delay of that product is not out of the question given Microsoft's track record. And while there's a chance that Windows Server 2008 will make it to business customers by Feb. 27 (Microsoft has not specified when in the first quarter it will be available), SQL Server 2008 is not due until at least June 30, Microsoft has said.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp. Friday released what it believes will be the last test version of Windows VistaÂ before the product is released to manufacturing. The company made Vista Release Candidate 2 (RC2), or build No. 5744, available to participants of its Customer Preview Program, as well as to TechBeta, TechNet, Technology Adoption Program and MSDN members. TheÂ previous test release of Vista, RC1, received "excellent feedback" from the estimated 3 million people who tested it, according to Microsoft. The company is using that to put the finishing touches on the overall quality and performance of the OS, it said. Microsoft said that it is still on target to release Vista to business customers next month and consumers in January 2007, though the company continues to give itself an out to miss those dates by saying that the quality of the product is its highest priority. The release of Vista has already been delayed several times. Still, leading financial analyst Rick Sherlund of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a research note this week that he believes all indicators point to a timely release for Vista. "We had been skeptical of the launch scheduleÂ after Beta 2 shipped with problems in May, but the team seems to be making great progress in addressing issues of performance, reliability and compatibility," he wrote in his note. Sherlund also said in his report he expects Microsoft will soon be releasing discount coupons for Vista to customers who purchase PCs that are capable of running Vista before the OS is available. Microsoft has confirmed it has plans to do this, but has officially remained mum on the time frame. However, in his report Sherlund wrote that Goldman Sachs has recently updated its financial outlook for Microsoft based upon both a timely release date for Vista and the imminent release of upgrade coupons.
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Microsoft has pushed out Release Candidate 1 of Windows Home Server to 100,000 testers, giving them a look at one of the last milestone releases before the software makes its official debut this fall.
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InfoWorld - Microsoft has clarified how licensing for its current version of Windows Server works when paired with virtualization software. However, customers may face a whole new set of licensing rules once the next version, Windows Server 2008, is released later this year.
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InfoWorld - Microsoft&#39;s first server OS aimed at helping Windows users organize and share files on a home network is nearly ready for prime time.
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TechWeb - The software will ship this summer. It had been scheduled for February, along with major upgrades of Windows Server and SQL Server.
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Some good news this week for Microsoft calendar-watchers, some bad: Even as Redmond nailed down the release dates for Vista SP1 and XP SP3, it quietly admitted that Windows Server 2008 would be released to manufacturing later than previously claimed.
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Microsoft is taking a new approach to product launches it seems, announcing it would release SQL Server 2008 to manufacturing in the second quarter of 2008, months after the product is supposed to officially "launch" alongside Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 on February 27.
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Microsoft said Tuesday that it has released a near-final test version of updates to its Windows and Windows Server operating systems.
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Microsoft Thursday did something it rarely does. The company released a beta for a long-awaited technology -- in this case its Windows Server 2008 virtualization technology Hyper-V -- ahead of schedule.Hyper-V, formerly code-named &quot;Viridian,&quot; is now available for download from Microsoft&#39;s Web site and is ready to be used with the current x64 beta version of Windows Server 2008, which is also available online. The technology, called a hypervisor, is the underlying virtualization technology for the server release, which is a major update that&#39;s expected to be released on Feb. 27, 2008. A beta of Hyper-V originally was planned to be released on that date as well.Virtualization, or the ability to use virtual machine technology to run multiple OSes on a physical server, is widely seen as a disruptive technology and is becoming increasingly important as companies seek to cut costs and consolidate hardware in their data centers and IT environments. Microsoft had originally intended to release Hyper-V as part of the original release Windows Server 2008, but the technology was delayed and is now scheduled to be generally available 180 days, or about six months, after Windows Server 2008 ships. Hyper-V&#39;s released was delayed earlier this year because Microsoft opted to pull out some originally planned features.Hyper-V takes advantage of virtualization-optimized microprocessors from Intel and&#160;AMD and is meant to help Microsoft compete with virtualization leader VMware, which already has hypervisor technology on the market. Hypervisors allow for cross-platform support so servers can run multiple versions of different OSes -- such as Windows and Linux -- side by side on one piece of hardware.Bill Hilf, general manager of Windows Server at Microsoft, said customers have been asking the company for a built-in virtualization technology that works directly within the Windows Server environment so it&#39;s easy to manage and implement. By design, Hyper-V is set up as what Microsoft calls a &quot;role&quot; within Windows Server 2008, and can be turned on or off as a customer wishes, he said. Roles are a new feature of the forthcoming release of the OS that allow servers to be set up so only the role or roles a customer wants them to play in the IT environment -- such as e-mail server or application server -- will be turned on.Mike Neal, general manager of virtualization at Microsoft, said Hyper-V is meant to make the virtualization market &quot;a two-horse race&quot; between Microsoft and VMware. However, with Hyper-V not scheduled to ship until the second half of next year, the company has a lot of ground to make up to topple VMware from its leadership position. And Microsoft also faces pressure in providing built-in OS virtualization from Linux leader Red Hat, which already has integrated cross-platform virtualization into Red Hat Enterprise Linux.Windows Server 2008 eventually will be available in multiple editions and will be offered with and without Hyper-V. Microsoft also plans to release a product called Microsoft Hyper-V Server specifically as a virtualization host environment in the second half of 2008.
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Despite denials from members of its own server development team on blogs last week, Microsoft announced today that it is indeed making Release Candidate 0 of Windows Server 2008 available for download tomorrow, if not sooner, as a community technology preview.
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Microsoft plans to issue two security updates for its Windows operating system products next Tuesday as part of its regular software patch cycle.The updates were pre-announced Thursday morning on Microsoft&#39;s Web site in order to give IT staffers a sense of how busy they will be next week installing the patches.One of the updates is considered critical for Windows Vista and XP users because the flaw it fixes could be used by attackers to install unauthorized software on a victim&#39;s computer. This update is rated important for Windows Server 2003 users and considered moderate for Windows 2000 users.The second update, rated important for all Windows users, could allow an attacker to run software with a higher level of privilege on a system than would normally be allowed.Microsoft did not provide any technical details on the updates.With just two updates scheduled, January will be a light month by Microsoft&#39;s standards. In 2007 the company shipped 69 software updates, an average of just under six per month.
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With an absence of fanfare, but otherwise on schedule, Microsoft opened up its download page for Service Pack 2 of Windows Server 2003, both 32-bit and 64-bit editions. Perhaps most importantly, enterprises won't have to wait until Longhorn to be able to utilize Windows Deployment Services, the company's new image-based system for pre-composed, remote Windows installations.
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Blog: The software maker said Tuesday that it is ready with a near-final "release candidate" version of its software, which will find its way on to servers later this year.