Windows Server 2012 Now Available for Download

On Tuesday, September 4th, 2012, Microsoft announced the general availability of its latest cloud OS iteration, namely Windows Server 2012.

The new release was designed to become a platform that can deliver a consistent experience across private, hosted and public clouds, Microsoft noted.

“The operating system has always been the heartbeat of IT and is now undergoing a renaissance in the new world of continuous cloud services, connected devices and big data,” Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft Server and Tools Business, said.

“Microsoft’s unique legacy in the most widely used operating systems, applications and cloud services positions us to deliver the Cloud OS, based on Windows Server and Windows Azure, helping customers achieve a datacenter without boundaries.”

The new platform release was built from the start with a focus on powering modern datacenters, Microsoft notes.

In fact, the company says that the OS was built “from the cloud up,” promising enhancements in virtualization, storage, networking and automation.

There are hundreds of new features that customers can take advantage of to improve the speed, scale and power of datacenters. They can also combine the OS with Windows Azure and System Center for management and delivery of applications and services.

Windows Server 2012 is also expected to provide customers with significant reduction in downtime and workload deployment time, as well as better productivity time.

“Customers can use their existing skills and investments in systems management, application development, database, identity and virtualization to take advantage of Windows Server 2012 and realize the promise of cloud computing,” Microsoft notes.

Microsoft is also seeing Windows Server 2012 as a key element in its Cloud OS vision and strategy, which blends software and services and moves beyond the traditional definition of a server platform.

Windows Server 2012 comes with a series of technologies previously available inside Windows Azure packed inside, such as hosted virtual machines.

“We're opening the door to every app being available on every cloud,” Michael Park, corporate vice president of the Windows Server and Management Marketing Team, said during the platform’s launch event.

He also noted that Microsoft was focused on the delivery of the Cloud OS across public, private and hosted clouds, and that the new strategy would render users cloud-ready at multiple levels.

You can download an evaluation copy of Windows Server 2012 today, via this link on Softpedia. This is the same RTM Build 9200 that was pushed to Microsoft’s partners in early August. More info on the various features that the OS includes can be found on Microsoft's website.