Welcome to Legacy Status, Windows Server
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

This week, Microsoft will finally get Windows Server 2008, formerly known as 'Longhorn Server' and the companion to the desktop Windows Vista operating system, out the door. If you don't count normal service packs but do include sub-releases, this is the eighth major update to the Windows server platform, and as Windows has come to dominate the server space (unless you count Unix and Linux together, which I do), it has in many ways moved back in time and become a legacy system. READ MORE >

i5/OS V6R1 Compiler and Tool Pricing Versus V5R4
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

A few weeks ago, IBM provided a product preview concerning the rejiggering of application development tools for the System i platform embodied in WebSphere Development Server (WDS) as well as a statement of direction about the eventual sunsetting of its WebSphere Development Studio Client (WDSC) development tool, which has been replaced by the new Rational Developer for System i (RDi) tool as part of the i5/OS V6R1 announcements. What IBM did not provide was pricing on this software--at least not to customers. But partners know. READ MORE >

Gartner Gives Annual Report Cards to Server Makers
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The analysts at Gartner have finished their box and sales counting for the worldwide server market for 2007, and the good news is that companies continued to invest in server technology, boosting worldwide sales by 3.8 percent to $54.8 billion compared with 2006. That revenue growth was driven by even faster increases in shipments of feature-packed boxes, with shipments worldwide up 7.4 percent to 8.84 million units. The server world may be going virtual, but there is a lot of iron--tens of millions of production servers--that need to be replaced. READ MORE >

As I See It: Change in Plan
by Victor Rozek

At some point, we all come face to face with the specter of limitation as time begins to pare down our options, awakening a dormant sense of urgency. It is, in part, a whimsical reminder that we'll never become the major leaguer, or the astronaut, or the ballerina we once wanted to be. More bluntly, it is the humbling confirmation that we are not yet independently wealthy, are unlikely to win national acclaim, or have our book plugged by Oprah. It is the time when idealists discover that not only have they failed to save the world, they haven't even changed it a smidgen. In short, it is a belated awareness that the path to happiness lies in a different direction. READ MORE >