Hype Machine Prepped for Windows Server 2008 Launch

Published: July 11, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft will officially launch Windows Server 2008 in Los Angeles on February 27, 2008, the software giant announced this week from its Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver, Colorado. In addition to launching the product once codenamed "Longhorn" server, Microsoft will introduce SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 in a triple-launch event that Microsoft is already calling "the most important enterprise launch in company history."

It's been barely six months since Microsoft launched Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange Server 2007, which it billed as the first triple-launch in its history (although the software giant has yet to land the quadruple back lutz reverse salchow). The introduction went off mostly as planned and generated lots of good press for Vista. Even former Windows chief Jim Allchin--a technologist of the finest pedigree--got into the act when he labeled Vista as "mind-bogglingly cool," undoubtedly making Apple's Steve Jobs green with envy after coming up with such a clever catch phrase.

Now, Microsoft is attempting to out jump even its own highly elevated hype bar with an audacious plan calling for hundreds of events around the 2008 line of products. After the Big Launch Event in the City of Angles on the last Wednesday in February, Microsoft will kick off a "launch wave" of hundreds of hosted events that will reverberate around the world, like a super giant technological tsunami.

In the meantime, Microsoft is concentrating on lining up its foot soldiers to be prepared for the Windows Server 2008 231 days hence. At the Denver Convention Center this week, the company is trying to get its business partners jazzed about the new server operating systems--the first from Microsoft since 2003--and has even started a new certification program for ISVs that want to use the Windows Server 2008 logo. Application developers can test their products for compatibility with the new operating system, which is currently at beta 3, with the new "Works with Windows Server 2008" tool. The tool can be downloaded at www.innovateonwindowsserver.com.

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