Windows 7 Means Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Reveals

Published: August 20, 2008

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft cleared up some confusion this week about the next version of Windows--and undoubtedly created some new confusion of its own--when it revealed that the next major version of the operating system, or Windows 7, will be released to the server market as a minor update to the current operating system, or Windows Server 2008 Release 2 (R2), and not as an entirely new version, which many had expected. More details of Windows 7 will be revealed at conferences in October, according to senior engineers in charge of Windows 7.

For the last year, this newsletter, along with many other IT news outlets, has been tracking the development of the next version of Windows (which bares the codename "Windows 7" within Microsoft) and passing along the various bits of news that Microsoft occasionally doles out about its future products. There hasn't been a lot of solid news about Windows 7, aside from Microsoft's focus on backwards compatibility, which is a sore point for Windows Vista. But in the wake of the poor sales of Windows Vista and widespread speculation about what Microsoft would do next, Windows 7 marked an important milestone for Microsoft.

Microsoft has been fairly clear that Windows 7 referred to the client version of the operating system that was under development. It was generally assumed that a server version would be created from the same code base on roughly the same timeline, and be released soon after, which is the pattern that recent releases have followed.

But that doesn't seem to be the case with the upcoming Windows 7 generation of products, where the client and server versions of the products won't be in lock-step like new Windows versions have been in the past.

According to reports, Windows Server 2008 R2 will be based on Windows 7 code base. Windows 7 in turn will be largely based on (and won't differ in a major way for the sake of backwards compatibility) the existing Windows Vista codebase. Windows Vista, of course, is not all that different from the original Windows NT 4.0 product.

So, if you thought Windows 7 referred to the next major release of Windows, you were partly right. It's the next major client version. But it refers to the less important R2 release on the server side. Perhaps that means R2 is only a minor update in name, but in actuality contains the sort of new features and capabilities that users expect in a brand spanking new operating system? Only time will tell.

One thing is for certain: the new naming convention will confuse customers.

It's common knowledge that the development of the Windows kernel has progressed numerically through the years, from one version to the next. The fun started way back in 1985 with Windows 1, which was followed by Windows 2 in 1987. Windows 3 debuted in 1990, which marked the split of the operating system into client and server (NT) versions.

Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, which shipped in 1995 and 1996 respectively, were both based on the 4th iteration of the Windows kernel. The 5th iteration of the kernel debuted in 2000 with Windows 2000, and was also used in Windows XP, which launched a year later; a server version of that kernel didn't debut until the launch of Windows Server 2003 in April 2003. The sixth version of the Windows kernel debuted in Windows Vista in late 2006, and was followed with a server version in February of this year, Windows Server 2008.

Following this pattern, one would expect Windows 7, which has variously been codenamed "Blackcomb" and "Vienna," to have its own separate client and server versions. Microsoft has committed to delivering a client version of Windows 7 in 2010 (who knows what it will be called). Following the pattern, a new version of the server OS would follow 12 to 24 months later, which would point to a name such as Windows Server 2010 or 2011.

But instead of a new name--as you would expect an operating system bearing a new kernel would get--the server OS getting the new kernel will be adorned with the slightly less thrilling R2 moniker, which doesn't seem to make as much sense, but which is what Microsoft is apparently set to do.

Perhaps Microsoft will have better answers in October and November, when it promises to dole out more Windows 7 information at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) starting October 27 and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) starting a week later.

There is also a new blog at Microsoft dedicated to Windows 7. The blog, titled "Engineering Windows 7," will feature commentary by the two senior engineering managers overseeing Windows 7 development, Jon DeVaan, the senior vice president of Windows core operating system division, and Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live engineering group. Check out the new blog at blogs.msdn.com/e7.

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