14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft synchronized the first Release Candidate for Windows Server 2008, formerly code-named Longhorn, with the availability of the Beta for Windows Vista Service Pack 1, as the client and server operating systems share the same core. No less than four flavors of Windows Server 2008 are available for download from Microsoft including the Standard Edition, the version for Itanium-based Systems, Enterprise and Datacenter, on top of which the Windows Web Server 2008 RC0 is also offered. One major attraction for Windows Server 2008, RC0, is the fact that, with this milestone, Microsoft has also included the first public version of Windows Server virtualization (codenamed Viridian).
This is "the first time WsV will be part of the code base and available to everyone. Now is the time for organizations to start testing with key virtualization scenarios...such as server consolidation....as well as getting ready for many of the other key features of Windows Server 2008. With Windows Server virtualization CTP, customers will now be able leverage the scalability of hypervisor-based platform and features, including multi-processor guests, large memory allocation (more than 32 gigabytes per machine) and integrated virtual switch support that enables IT organizations to virtualize most workloads," revealed Ward Ralston, senior technical product manager in the Windows Server division.
"As we continue to talk with customers and partners about Windows Server 2008, one thing is clear - everyone is eager to roll up their sleeves and take a good hard look at Windows Server 2008 RC0, including the Windows Server virtualization CTP," says Bill Laing, general manager of the Windows Server Division at Microsoft. "We are excited to share this first broadly released preview of our hypervisor technology with the community."
Microsoft underlined the fact that Windows Server 2008 was feature-complete since the Beta 3 stage, but the Release Candidate is a strong indication that the company's last 32-bit server operating system is right on track for RTM. Windows Server 2008 was initially planned to be released to manufacturing by the end of 2007. Microsoft failed to deliver on that promise pushing the RTM date all the way into the first quarter of 2008. Still, the company informed that the new timetable for Windows Server 2008, impacts in no way the official launch scheduled for the end of February 2008.
Microsoft is also making the first steps for the synchronization of Windows Server 2008 with the release of Viridian. The first Community Technology Preview of Viridian is essentially a thin (weighing in at less than a megabyte), hypervisor-based software virtualization layer included into the server operating system. The Windows Server virtualization technology is designed to run between the hardware and Windows Server 2008.
Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate (RC) 0 can be downloaded from here.