.Net Server release delayed

Thanks webgraph for the heads up.

Microsoft said late Thursday that Windows.Net Server, the successor to its Windows 2000 Server operating system, will not ship during the first half of 2002, as Microsoft had earlier indicated. The company now hopes to issue the first release candidate--or near-final testing version--sometime in the summer and a final version later in the second half of the year. Conceivably, many customers might not receive the product until next year.

The delay is the second in about 13 months. Microsoft had originally projected delivering .Net Server during the second half of last year, but in April it pushed back the release until early 2002. The product, which is expected to play a significant role in Microsoft's .Net software-as-a-service strategy, would replace various flavors of Windows Server 2000

Microsoft has been roundly criticized for other product delays. But analysts instead see this delay as a wise move.

Microsoft can use the extra time to beef up .Net Server's security features, in response to Chairman Bill Gates' "Trustworthy Computing" initiative. In a mid-January e-mail to Microsoft employees, Gates said the company must make security a top priority, even more than new product features.

"We sort of expected this delay, especially after they started the trustworthy Windows initiative, that they might want to include more stuff in .Net Server to take advantage of that," said Gartner analyst Michael Silver. I think people would have been skeptical if Microsoft had delivered a brand-new product without tying (in) whatever it is they learned from this trustworthy Windows initiative they're hyping."

News source: ZDNet News - .Net Server release delayed