It's Official: Windows Server 2008

Published: May 16, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Say goodbye, Windows Server codename "Longhorn," and say hello to Windows Server 2008. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates officially christened the company's forthcoming new operating system for servers yesterday during his keynote address at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2007 in Los Angeles. The move surprised few, as the new name was inadvertently posted to a Microsoft Web site last week.

In his keynote, Gates touted the first 100 days of sales of Windows Vista, talked about new hardware providers and developers of third-party software for Microsoft's upcoming Windows Home Server operating system, and officially unveiled Windows Server 2008, the Longhorn version of Windows Server that has been in development since before the code was finalized on the "Whistler" release of the product, called Windows Server 2003, which shipped in April 2003.

"A wave of great new hardware products from our partners has played a major role in the strong demand we've seen for Windows Vista‚" Gates said. "Going forward‚ Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 will provide a platform for hardware innovations that will deliver more intelligent and compelling computing experiences for consumers and business users‚ driving increased demand for a wide range of new PCs and new devices."

Microsoft let the cat out of the bag last Thursday, when alert Web watchers noticed a reference to Windows Server 2008 on a Microsoft Web site dedicated to WinHEC topics. A hyperlink for Windows Server 2008 led back to a page discussing Windows Server Longhorn. Microsoft soon took the offending Web page down, but the secret was out.

The choice of name for Windows Server 2008 led some to speculate that the ship date for the product has slipped again. That is not the case, as Microsoft says it is still committed to shipping the product, or releasing it to manufacturing (RTM), during the second half of 2007.

While current plans call for Windows Server 2008 to ship during 2007, it won't likely ship until the end of the year, which will push the first wave of product adoption into 2008. While giving it a 2008 name may extend the product's shelf-life somewhat, it goes against Microsoft's recent pattern of naming products during the year they came out (see SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and Exchange Server 2005, all of which shipped in late 2005.

Microsoft recently released the first public beta of Windows Server 2008. It will be available in four editions, including a standard edition, an enterprise edition, a datacenter edition, and a Web server edition. These model designations are the same ones that were used on Windows Server 2003.

Windows Server 2008, which is based on the same code base as Windows Vista, will bring several noteworthy features, including support for Network Access Protection (NAP); a new Web server, Internet Information Services (IIS) version 7; a new command-line interface and accompanying scripting language, dubbed PowerShell; the new Server Core option that allows users to only install the components and subsystems necessary to accomplish a given task, and to eliminate the GUI; stronger password protection; new terminal services gateway enhancements that will eliminate the need for VPN; new Active Directory Rights Management Services to help protect data and ensure compliance; new clustering capabilities; and a new hypervisor layer, codenamed "Viridian," which is due to ship within 180 days of Windows Server 2008 (although Microsoft just eliminated important features from Viridian to meet its previously scheduled ship date).

Microsoft has high hopes for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. Yesterday, the company released a study it commissioned the IT analyst group IDC to put together concerning the economic impact of the new operating systems. The study predicted that, for every dollar in revenue Microsoft earns from Vista and Windows Server 2008 next year, the IT industry as a whole will bring in about $18. All told, the industry will sell $120 billion in products and services around the new operating systems in 2008, IDC says.

More than 40 million copies of Windows Vista have been sold during the first 100 days of consumer availability, Gates said. Windows Server 2008 beta 3 has been downloaded more than 100,000 times since it was posted three weeks ago, he said.

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