On To The Next Windows Milestone...
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Microsoft did, as expected, release Windows Server 2003 to manufacturing on Friday, paving the way for its April 24 launch of the product. The company announced that it has released the 64-bit 2003 version of its Windows XP product to manufacturing, as well. See "Windows Server 2003 Goes Gold" But during a phone call with press and analysts to announce the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) milestone, company officials declined to clarify further how and when add-ons to the base product — not to mention follow-on Windows versions — will roll out. Microsoft still in the midst of developing several "layered" services that it will deliver in 60 to 90 days to run on top of Windows Server 2003. These include: Windows Sharepoint Services; Real-Time Communications and Collaboration Server (code-named "Greenwich"); Windows Rights Management Services (code-named "Tungsten). Bill Veghte, Corporate VP of Windows Server, said during the call that Windows SharePoint Services will likely be the first of these add-ons to be available to customers. He declined to talk pricing. He also did not answer a question as to whether Microsoft's plan — as the company has indicated previously — continues to be to fold these kinds of services into the core Windows server foundation over time. Veghte also declined to clarify where Microsoft is at with its follow-on Windows releases, code-named "Longhorn" and "Blackcomb," claiming that today was the day for celebrating Windows Server 2003, not for talking about future versions. Last week, Microsoft executives made some conflicting public statements as to whether the company is planning a Longhorn server release for 2005. In the fall of 2002, Microsoft said Longhorn would be a client-only version of Windows. Last week, Microsoft executives said the company may end up releasing at least a Longhorn Limited Edition server product. Read More on Microsoft's Windows Detour Bob O'Brien, Windows server group product manager, told Microsoft Watch earlier this week that Microsoft has a number of add-ons for Windows Server 2003 under development. Besides these three aforementioned "services," the company also is readying two "value-added tools": its Group Policy Manager Console and its Automated Deployment Services (ADS) distribution tool that will help customers better deploy Windows Server 2003. A number of other related components will follow the commercial availability of Windows Server 2003 by a month or two. These include: O'Brien also reiterated that Microsoft has not announced when or how it plans to support the 64-bit capabilities of AMD's Opteron processor. The Windows Server 2003 release will support Opteron's 32-bit capabilities out of the box, O'Brien said. During Friday's call, Veghte cited a number of milestones achieved by Microsoft with Windows Server 2003. He said 5,000 Microsoft developers spent three years to develop and test the product that delivers 650 "technical innovations and enhancements" over Windows 2000. He called the product "the most comprehensively tested server release we've ever done," noting that 561,000 individuals had signed up to test the softare as part of the customer preview program. Veghte also said that 2,500 independent software vendors had committed to support Windows Server 2003 as of the launch on April 24. Veghte said this was "an order of magnitude" more ISVs than had supported Windows Server 2000 out of the gate. On the call, Veghte emphasized the consolidation, performance and management benefits accrued by customers that have been beta testing Windows Server 2003. Windows Server 2003 will ship in six flavors: 32-bit Web, Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter editions, plus 64-bit Enterprise and Datacenter releases. In addition, Windows 2003 Small Business Server edition, based on the Windows Server 2003 bits, will ship in the third quarter of this year. |
