Microsoft on Monday came closer to the final release of Windows Server 2003 R2, expected before the year’s end, by making Release Candidate 1 available for download. The release of the RC1 code, which is available here, follows the release of RC0, in late August.
At first glance I thought the article was about MS releasing the source code!!
For some good info about R2 see – http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/win2003_r2.asp
Yeah, it could be misunderstood. When I hear the word ‘code’ I expect it to be source code, not binary code
But nobody expects Microsoft to release source code, even though it could be nice. Then we could fix the bugs in regard to scaling
But none the less: Good news for those of us who uses Win2K3
Anyone has direct link to download?
And I want to make sure…this R2 release won’t offer absolutelly anything for the ones that run barebones, without any server services, win2k3 sp1 as their desktop, right?
I’m having a hard time believing that you’ve bought Windows 2003 to use it as a desktop. Either you’ve got more money than you can spend or you’re using a pirated copy. Of course, you could be a realy crazy computer enthusiast but I find that unlikely…
Have you ever heard of MSDN – AA? It is a program that Microsoft runs through universities that lets students, professors, and others download software from MS for free to use for educational purposes. I have a copy of Virtual PC because of it, as well as Vista Beta 1. Chances are, this person got 2k3 from the same program; there are some other students on OS News who have done the same thing. And even if he had bought 2k3 for the desktop, or even pirated it, what would be the point of your post? I find your ill-thought out remarks inflammatory, so please keep them to yourself.
I have several editions of Windows server 2003, 2000, XP and so on thanks to MSDNAA. All free.
MSDN AA
That’s why I’m using Win2K3 at home on my desktop.
But I do have several services running, Apache for one (and some others), so a Server system isn’t a bad choice for me. Besides that. Win2K3 is FAST!
Or I get it from the Uni, you know-it-all-and-like-to-judge-people.
And BTW, when it comes to pirating, IMHO it’s the question of morality of that person who pirates, not mine.
Probably an ignorant question but will you be able to update your Win 2003 install via Windowsupdate to R2 or some sort of service pack? Or is R2 a whole different beast than previous version and you’ll need to reinstall?
Uh, after reading the FAQ more closely think I’ve found the answer on my own questions
I bought 2003 Server with a Dell at work as a workstation. Windows XP x64 is actually 2003 SP1 64-bit, but – the biggest problem with x64/64 bit windows, it is broken:
[ http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpapers/pdfs/redp3982.pdf ]
As discussed, all Windows Server operating systems are compiled from a single code base.
However, the following features available in Windows Server 2003 32-bit version are not
supported in Windows Server 2003, x64 Edition:
– Microsoft DOS
– 16-bit applications
– OS/2 subsystem
– Portable Operating System for UNIX (POSIX) (breaks Interix)
– A number of older transport protocols, such as AppleTalk and NETBEUI
R2 will be nice since I know/think it integrates POSIX/Interix/NFS export support, meaning they hopefully fixed in the 64 bit versions these horrible omissions above.
Modulo using 64 bit, Windows 2003 is the best workstation, and the crappier the hardware, the BETTER it works. I used a Pentium Pro 200 512K cache 128MB 50ns 72pin ECC memory machine for a Winroute box running windows 2003 and can safely say it runs faster than both NT 4 did on that box, faster than 2000 and XP barely ran at all.
So, with x64 XP BEING Windows 2003, and 2003 being so good at not wasting hardware resources on frills (and disabling all the services/themes in XP does not make it as fast as 2003) , 2003 is an excellent workplace.
Also keep in mind, BASIC/rudimentary things like software RAID 0,1 and 5, and with R2 NFS, and many other BASIC/ rudimentary services in Windows 2003, this all comes for FREE with Solaris or Linux, so its natural for power users or people who interoperate to want basic functions in the OS, and Windows 2003 R1 is the first Windows that attempts to have the basic function of any of the free Solaris/Linux OSes available.
I I’m still not 100% sure about anser to my original question