Microsoft is hard at work building the next iterations of both the Windows client and server operating systems. But while the company has already opened up a tad about Windows 7, the successor of Windows Vista, it has managed to all but completely avoid the Windows 7 Server subject. There has been little to no official indications from Microsoft about what will after Windows Server 2008 released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008 and launched commercially at the end of the same month. Still, while the software giant has just wrapped up migrating all its boxes to Windows Server 2008, it is already dogfooding Windows 7 Server.

Confirmation of this fact was offered by Brian Puhl, an Active Directory engineer for Microsoft's IT department, who managed to leak a Windows 7 Server screenshot along with additional details. The fact that Microsoft is already using Windows 7 Server internally is a clear indication that the operating system has evolved well past the "planning stage." In fact, due to the synchronization between the Windows client and server releases, the Windows 7 Server build being dogfooded might very well be on par with Windows 7, which has moved past Milestone 1.

"Man, it seems like yesterday that we were dogfooding Longhorn Server. But that's long gone, and Windows Server 2008 has RTM'd, so it's time for a break right? Yeah, well, breaks over and there are new toys to play with already. So congratulations to the operations team, the product group, pm's, and everyone else that has put the effort in to get us to the point where we put the first Win7 domain controller in production," Puhl stated in a blog post which was subsequently taken down, but is still accessible thanks to the Live Search cache.

Puhl also offered an insight into the details associated with the operating system being dogfooded: "Server Name: TK5-WING-DC-01; Security: Users; Registered Owner: Windows User; Registered Organization: MSIT; ProductID: 00484-082-2500885-76802; Original Install Date: Fri Jul 11 13:37:56 2008; Base Source Path:Version: 6.1; Build: 6608.winmain_win7m2.080511-1400; Current Type: Multiprocessor Free; Product Name: Windows Server (R) 2008 Enterprise; Product Options: ProductType; HAL.DLL is 6.1.6608.1 - Microsoft Corporation - 6.1:6608.1; System Up Time: 0 Days, 13 Hr, 41 Min, 29 Sec."

Judging from this information, the Windows 7 Server core is based on that of Windows Server 2008. However, as the platform evolved, the Windows 7 Server kernel is bound to get a new version, as the label is designed to refer to the next major version of the Windows server operating system. Build 6.1.6608 is also an evolution compared to 6.1.6519 which was Windows 7 M1. The biggest question however is whether Windows 7 Server will ship along with the Windows 7 client three years after the general availability of Window Vista, or if a repeat of the bundled release Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 is in the works.