Daily Cup of Tech

Windows Vista is almost here. By now, most people know about or at least have heard about this new and improved version of Windows. But what about the newest version of Windows Server? When will it be releasing to the public? What new features will it have?

Im pretty happy with Windows Server 2003. It has been pretty reliable for my situation. What new features and goodies is Microsoft going to give to entice users to Upgrade? Well I did some research and found some interesting things.

Network Access Protection

From the Microsoft website:

With Network Access Protection, you can create customized health policies to validate computer health before allowing access or communication, automatically update compliant computers to ensure ongoing compliance, and optionally confine non-compliant computers to a restricted network until they become compliant.

This would be a neat feature if it is implemented correctly.

New Terminal Service Features

The feature that stands out the most is Remote Applications. This allows applications to be installed on the Terminal Services Server and be shared to users. Remote Applications can be used side by side just like they were installed on the local machine. By using Remote Apps, this would allow true roaming profiles. The problem now is a user may move to a different computer but may not have a certain program installed.

Another feature is Terminal Services Web. This allows users to log in on the intranet or internet and use applications and desktops the same way remotely. This is integrated into IIS 7, Active Directory, and Sharepoint 3.0

Of course, Microsoft is promising increased reliability and security in the update Terminal Services. It will be interesting to see how the remote applications feature is implemented to reduce bandwidth consumption and slow applications.

Windows Powershell

Windows Powershell is a new command line shell that includes over 130 command line tools to automate common administration tasks of Active Directory, Terminal Server, and IIS. Also included is a new “easy to learn” scripting language made for system admins.

Availability and Naming

Microsoft has stayed true to its two year release timeline on server platforms. They plan on releasing it by the end of 2007 or early 2008. Longhorn is just a ‘codename’, but I don’t think that even Microsoft knows what they are going to name it. A few of my favorites: Windows Server Superb, Windows Server 1337, and Windows Server Superfun.

This is just a outline of some of the new features that stood out to me. There are many more features available. Overall I think they sound good, but if they come out good is another story. A public beta will be released sometime in the next few months. Probably middle to late summer. I’m not really an early adopter, but it will be interesting to see how the new features are implemented.

You can play around with it right now if you want. Head over to the Windows Server “Longhorn” homepage and click on Virtual Lab.

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