“Microsoft has started printing up the invites for the launch of Windows Server 2008 as it finally sets loose release candidate 1 of the long-awaited server operating system. Microsoft’s decision to put a red ring around 27 February came as it released another test version of Vista Service Pack 1, the update it is banking on to breathe some life into the so-far zombified desktop operating system.”
I can see it now, unstoppable hordes of vistas rampaging through cities, mindlessly killing and devouring the defenseless macs caught completely unawares. A ragtag group of survivors manage to clear a mall, and manage to live in relative peace as they defend their safe haven. Little do they know that roving, motorcycle riding bands of linuxs (linii?) are rampaging through the country, and about to loot their little piece of post-apocolyptic utopia….
EDIT: I can’t believe I just posted that. my only excuse is that I am on my fourth straight cup of coffee (gearing up for an all-night hacka-a-thon)
Edited 2007-12-07 00:11 UTC
*claps*
zombified desktop operating system.
Vista want fresh brains, brains… I love the image of a zombie OS. Dead but still walking.
“Of course, development cycles slipped, and Vista came out long before the server OS.”
MS has always shipped their server OS’s about a year after their desktop counterparts. This release was never scheduled to be any different.
They ship the server OS first, and then ship the client OS based on the server codebase.
Windows Server 2003 shipped first. Vista is based on the Server 2003 OS.
Server 2008 will ship. And then “Windows 7” will ship, based on that code base.
It’s been this way since Windows 2000 shipped.
This will actually be a bit different. Vista is built on 2k3, 2k8 is built on Vista, but Vista SP1 will merge the Vista and 2k8 codebase, and from now on they will be parallel (according to theurott anyways)
Say what? You’re way off, have a look at the version numbers listed here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows#Timeline_of_releases
You’ll see that the server version of Windows always comes out about 1 year after its corresponding desktop release, all the way back to Windows 3.1. The version numbers are a little grey around the Windows 2000/XP timeframe, but Windows XP was not the client OS for Windows 2000 server; Windows 2000 Pro was. XP is the client for Windows 2003.
Fact of the matter is that regardless of which OS is the client of the other, the server versions do proceed the others in regards to source-similarity:
XP is based on 2000, but XP’s changes mean that the server OS must evolve to suit those needs while the previous server OS evolves slightly to match up with the “client” OS until the end of support.
Basically, this is a case where everyone is right in a different way.