Following on from Jim Allchin's Keynote last week at WinHEC 2004 Microsoft held a Windows Server 2003 1st anniversary party here in London today. The event covered some key partners describing their experiences with Windows Server 2003 and included the data research firm DRS who are currently managing voting forms for the London Elections with Windows Server 2003. Several MVPs also attended and were on hand to answer and questions related to Windows Server.

Samm DiStasio donned the stage to talk about the Windows Server Roadmap. Samms main points for the next 18 months of Windows Server were service packs & feature packs of Windows Server being combined into OS "updates". The idea is that Microsoft will release an update every 2 years after an initial major release which refreshes the Operating System with add-ons, security fixes and new features. The next planned update is for Windows Server 2003 which is due to be released in 2005 and currently code-named R2. As 2004 stands we should be expecting Virtual Server 2005, Server Performance Advisor and Windows Update Services to be released by the end of the year along with Windows Server 2003 64 bit, Windows Server 2003 SP1 & SBS 2003 SP1.

Windows Server 2003 SP1 will include reliability & security enhancements and an increased performance of 10% on TPC. TPC-H, SAP & SSL. SP1 will include XP SP2 enhancements like RPC & DCOM lockdown and will include a boot-time network protection for clean installs. This means clean installs will be protected out of the box by Windows Firewall but the Windows Firewall will turn itself off by default after the install has finished. SP1 also includes a VPN client inspection that can ensure clients are secure and up to date before being able to access vital networks running Windows Server 2003. The same enhancements will be included in Small Business Server 2003 SP1.

Windows Server 2003 Update - Codename "R2" will be built upon Windows Server 2003 SP1. R2 will include update packs like Windows Update Services & Server Performance Advisor and will be covered by the same application compatibility, servicing & support lifecycle as Windows Server 2003. This also means that servers covered by Software Assurance at the time of Windows Server 2003 release will receive Windows Server 2003 Update.

Windows Server Codename Longhorn Beta 1 was also mentioned briefly but without any promised features or release schedule. Judging by the announcement that Microsoft are moving to a 4 year release schedule for Windows Server then that would place Windows Server Longhorn in 2007 (4 years from Server 2003). This also fits in with the fact Microsoft also announced plans to release an "Update" every 2 years from OS Launch. Previously, Microsoft worked on a 3 year release schedule with Windows NT and Windows 2000. This news means we'll be seeing Windows Client Longhorn in 2006 and Windows Server Longhorn in 2007 if Microsoft want to stick to the announced plans. This also affects Blackcomb which now officially falls back to 2011 after Longhorn gets its update in 2009. Some crazy figures but ones that Microsoft are evidently working to.

Screenshot: Windows Server Roadmap

UPDATE: On a side note, Microsoft has also updated MS01-052, and MS04-14 yesterday. The details are listed below.

MS01-052

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-052.mspx

Reason for re-release: Bulletin updated to advise of the availability of an update for Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition. This update addresses an additional denial of service vulnerability.

Originally posted: October 18, 2001
Updated: May 11, 2004
Version: 3.0

MS04-014

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-014.mspx

Reason for re-release: Microsoft has released a revised version of the Windows XP security update that contains the correctly localized optional Jet error strings.

Originally posted: April 13, 2004
Updated: May 11, 2004
Version: 2.0


There are 19 additional comments
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(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by stormchaser2010 on 12 May 2004 - 18:47
And Windows Ultimate Edition comes out in 2014, with an update every Monday of a full moon, except during high tides in which case they will wait for the next Tuesday of the following month in observance. In which case Microsoft will release Windows Ultimate Edition R2D2 followed by Ultimate Edition C3PO during the next menstral cycle.
Quote this comment #1.1 Posted by doubledragonxz on 12 May 2004 - 22:13
ROFL!!
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by Jason on 12 May 2004 - 18:49
Where I work we have only just fully migrated to 2000 server with a few 2003 DC's we won't be going for "R2" our next upgrade will be Longhorn server and that will probsbly take a year of testing before being implemented.


NT 4 / Exchange 5.5 to Server 2003 / Exchange 2003 was difficult, Server 2003 to Longhorn I hope will be easier.
Quote this comment #2.1 Posted by creamhackered on 12 May 2004 - 18:50
Cool

To me it seemed like R2 was more of a service pack than anything, they weren't very clear.
Quote this comment #2.2 Posted by Jason on 12 May 2004 - 18:54
Any news on weather the next Exchange version (Kodiak) will have the unified storage engine or has that been cut back ?
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by Trajik 2600 on 12 May 2004 - 20:00
I think Microsoft spends more time working on their release dates and cycles than they do on writing the software they're talking about. I'll believe this article in 2011
Quote this comment #3.1 Posted by Jason on 12 May 2004 - 20:05
The ones working on schedules will not be the ones who code the programs
Quote this comment #3.2 Posted by preichert on 13 May 2004 - 21:56
I hope so!
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by Ciderx on 12 May 2004 - 20:11
Yep heard this about it to.

George Broussard: "We're really excited about Blackcomb. We aim for Duke Nukem Forever to be released at the same time as its launch."

Quote this comment #4.1 Posted by Jason on 12 May 2004 - 20:15
Longhorn was originally a minor upgrade with Blackcomb the next major version, but they brought many features forward and made Longhorn the major upgrade so bar name you could say Longhorn has become Blackcomb and what ever Blackcomb is now is way off in the distance.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by incubusdaemon on 12 May 2004 - 20:43
So R2 will be like Win98 SE? (You'll be able to download most of the features, but it won't be a totally free upgrade?)
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by ThunderRiver on 12 May 2004 - 23:45
Well, good to know. I love the stability of Windows 2003, and I hope they will continue to improve. Perhaps one day, we will truly see a system with hot patch feature without reboot in Windows platform
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by Smeg on 12 May 2004 - 23:51
1 year old and Ironically I switched from Windows 2003 Server to Windows 2000 Server last night It just didn't deliver that extra performance for me


and "R2" must = "Release 2"

Which might mean that "Windows XP Reloaded" (which IMHO sounds too much like a cheap rip off of that movie) might be called "Windows XP R2", which I'm hoping for.

Last edited by 21216 on 13 May 2004 - 00:00
Quote this comment #7.1 Posted by STV on 13 May 2004 - 00:11
"Windows XP Reloaded" is just a code name, so dont get all worked up over it.

but yeah, if there is another release of XP they should either tack on an SE or the R2

STV
(4 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by tapo on 13 May 2004 - 02:59
Not to piss anyone off or anything, I don't want to start a flamewar, but I've always wondered,

Why does Neowin.net run on Linux?
Quote this comment #8.1 Posted by creamhackered on 13 May 2004 - 03:09
We can't afford the licencing and server costs for running a Windows platform. Also our forums and main page run in php with mysql and converting them to run properly in Windows on ASP.net is a task simply not worth it and one that our main coder (Redmak) wouldn't want to undertake since he is mainly a PHP coder
Quote this comment #8.2 Posted by tapo on 13 May 2004 - 03:13
Oh, okay. Thank you for the answer.
Quote this comment #8.3 Posted by incubusdaemon on 13 May 2004 - 03:59
considering you are one of the premiere windows news authorities, Microsoft should give you a special promo.
Quote this comment #8.4 Posted by cpu on 13 May 2004 - 06:34
Ask MS - they should give a copy. The question will be than who will pay for the migration
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