August CTP of Windows Server "Longhorn" Beta 2 Now Available

Published: September 13, 2006

by Alex Woodie

A new build of Windows Server "Longhorn" is now available for testing, according to the Windows Server Division Blog. Beta testers won't see many new features in Build 5600, which is the August 2006 community technology preview (CTP) update to Windows Server "Longhorn" Beta 2, but they will see some "big gains in performance and reliability," according to Microsoft bloggers.

Just as Microsoft is finishing work on the client PC-focused Windows Vista, Microsoft developers are also moving forward on the next version of Windows Server, which still goes by the years-old "Longhorn" codename.

The new build (which was incorrectly labeled Build 5560 on the blog but quickly corrected) reflects the growing maturity of the Vista release, bloggers say. " . . . [W]e've been able to bake in all the core OS improvements that were happening simultaneously in Windows Vista" in the new build, says David Zipkin, a Microsoft developer working on the new OSs, according to the Team Blog.

The Beta 2 release of Windows Server Longhorn is currently open only to MSND and TechNet subscribers. The new operating system is slated for general availability in the second half of 2007.