Microsoft unveils first Public Beta of "Longhorn" server

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Microsoft on Wednesday announced the first public "beta" release of its next-generation Windows Server operating system, code-named Longhorn, allowing people to evaluate the increased control, flexibility and protection built into the next edition of Windows Server.

The first publicly available test version of the Microsoft Windows Server “Longhorn” Beta 3 is available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/getbeta3, while the final version is on track for release to manufacturing in the second half of 2007.

The last major overhaul to the Windows Server “Longhorn” was in 2003. This is the first time that the public can get its hands on the long-anticipated version of Windows Server operating system.

“As they take it for a test drive, our customers and partners will find we made some vast improvements in Windows Server ‘Longhorn’ to help them reduce costs and adapt to changing business needs,” said Bill Laing, general manager of the Windows Server Division at Microsoft. “Between early adopter customers and Microsoft IT, we have hundreds of servers running in production environments today. If there’s one message we want to send today, it is get ready, download and evaluate.”

The release of first public beta of the next edition of Windows Server comes three months after the Redmond giant unveiled the consumer version of Windows Vista.

In Beta 3, customers will see new features and enhancements that include Server Manager, which allows the server firewall to be functioning all the time, and an optional installation known as Server Core, where users can install just 8 of the 18 server codes, configuring them for the best performance.

Some other features like stronger security, better performance, new server roles and features, and additional server management and remote administration tools are also embedded with the new operating system.

In brief, Windows Server "Longhorn" delivers three primary benefits, More Control, Greater Flexibility and Increased Protection, helping information technology (IT) professionals maximize control over their infrastructure while providing unprecedented availability and management capabilities, leading to a significantly more secure, reliable, and robust server environment than ever before.

Besides promising to be more secure and easier to manage, one more advantage of Longhorn is that it can be installed in pieces. IT managers can decide what tasks they want the server to perform, then install just the necessary functions. Less software means fewer programs to keep updated with security patches, and fewer places for hackers to attack, Visse said.

Windows Server "Longhorn" is the server equivalent of Windows Vista (previously also known by the codename "Longhorn"), and contains many of the same features. This is a similar relationship to that between Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, codenamed "Whistler" and "Whistler Server", respectively.

Microsoft Windows Server is designed to provide organizations with the most productive platform for virtualizing workloads, powering applications, and protecting networks. It provides a secure, easy-to-manage platform for developing and reliably hosting Web applications and services.

Beta 1 of Longhorn Server was released on July 27, 2005, while Beta 2 was announced and released on May 23, 2006 at Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2006.

The Beta 3 release of Windows Server “Longhorn” on April 25, 2007 marks the beginning of the second wave of innovation to be delivered by Microsoft over the next year. After successfully launching the Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system, the software giant is due to roll out final version of Windows Server “Longhorn” as well as the next versions of Visual Studio, code-named “Orcas,” and Microsoft SQL Server, code-named “Katmai.”

Microsoft hopes these products will provide organizations with an advanced development and Web platform as well as streamlined data management and analysis, enabling infrastructure optimization.