Microsoft announced some new details about the next version of Windows Small Business Server. Previously codename “Cougar”, the new name was also announced.
I learned the name last week while at an internal training conference in Seattle. The Product Managers told us how many hours and dollars were spent researching the new name.
“It has to be bold! Daring! Yet it has to accurately reflect the very essence of the product!”
“So.. enough history already! What’s the name?!”
[Drum Roll….]
Windows Small Business Server 2008!
[Cymbal Crash! Thunderous applause!]
“Oh.. I coulda guessed that!”
Of course. Yeah, it’s no shock. But at least now it’s official. You can all breathe easier.
“So, what’s new?”
Lots. I’ll blog about new features in the coming weeks. One of the most interesting items to me is a new licensing option. As before, there are two main versions, this time called “Standard” and “Premium”. But this time the Premium option actually allows you to install a second server. So now when you’ve migrated your domain over to your new 64-bit machine (Yes, SBS 2008 requires 64-bit hardware, for the sake of Exchange Server 2007 among other things), one option you’ll have is to re-purpose your old SBS server machine. And yes, that 2nd machine can be 32-bit OR 64-bit, running the included license of Windows Server 2008. Details on the versions are located HERE.
And here is the Small Business Server 2008 home page.
Absolutely Full of I.T. 
Woooweeee
Windows Small Business Server 2008!
I love it, very dramatic, to the point, very descriptive and peaks to what the product really is, loving it.
~TITSSN~
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Is that guy in the add about to hit someone or what? What would make him so mad? Maybe his Vista Experience Index is a 2.0 because of his graphics cards gaming abilities…
Hugs
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He does look very distraught about something, doesn’t he… 🙂
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Hey, take a look at this. Sounds like Microsoft is accepting some responsibility for some past issues with SBS. I read all the way through this thing and don’t know if the guy is real, but it’s at least pretty interesting.
http://www.sbsguru.spaces.live.com
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I just checked the new SBS 2008 home page – no ISA in Premium?
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Nope. The number of companies that took advantage of ISA in SBS 2003 was very small. Most companies already have some other firewall solution, because of the concern that a firewall ON the machine they also want to protect doesn’t seem all that smart.
ISA is includeded in Windows Essential Business Server 2008 – both Standard and Premium.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/essential/ebs/default.mspx
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