MS really don't seem to have propper focus in the small business sector
I suppose they're at least trying with this latest offering.
For mid to large enterprises the MS offerings are outstanding. Server 2003 R2 is an absolute dream to use, replete with so many features out-the-box, that most admins in a corporation of significant size wouldn't bat an eyelid at the price of either software or the iron needed to run it.
If you're in the education sector then you're laughing too. £30 for a server licence, £7 a CAL? Cheap as chips, mate!
It's only when you get into the small private sector that things really start to sting.
@Robert on 2003/2008
I can see your point to an extent, but I suppose it all depends on your enterprises needs. 2008 is more of a fix to features that were conspicuous by their absence, rather than a complete revamp, with the odd exception. Group Policy Management now pretty much contains every single configuration option you could possibly wish to apply to your clients, all wrapped up in a much friendlier editing environment. I could evangelise MS from dawn till dusk for giving me GPMC – and I have the time to do it thanks to the automation it’s provided me. Any improvements then, are always welcome.
The server core option on the other hand (a GUI-less, stripped down instillation option, which does very significantly reduce the OS footprint) combined with Bitlocker will give you something quite new in the MS offerings.
You will end up with an entirely self contained encrypted box streamlined to perform only the functions you defined during instillation. Stick it in the corner of one of your off-site offices and forget all about it. Changes are all done through administrative tools which you can access from another server or your own workstation.
I’ve not had chance to play with this yet, but I can only speculate that stripping away everything but the bare essentials has to improve reliability and speed.
@Linbox
Too right! Mssql 2008 is a joke! Equally, I’m deeply unimpressed with office2007s’ performance too. My opinions on vista/windows 7 were equally low until I started talking to our software developers, and they evangelised the new APIs for sound a graphics management.
But where is my WinFS?!?!? NTFS is getting pretty long in the tooth now. WinFS promised an extensible relational database driven filesystem. The benefits of which should be apparent to anyone who’s worked with databases. File speeds of listing and searching would be blisteringly fast, and the extensible metadata opens huge doorways.