Office 2010 Code Microsoft fleshes out small-, mid

Microsoft is sharing additional details about its small- and mid-size servers due out later on this yr that may be built around Windows Server 2008.Both of those servers are part of the newly-christened Vital Server Solutions Family. In the minimal finish (for end users with 50 PCs or fewer), Microsoft will offer you Windows Modest Enterprise Server 2008,Office Home And Business, the product codenamed “Cougar.” For mid-size companies, Microsoft is readying Windows Necessary Business Server 2008,Office 2010 Code, codenamed “Centro.”Each of those products are currently in private beta testing, according to Microsoft. They will go to public beta some time during the first half of this 12 months and both launch together within the second half of 2008,Office 2010 Professional Plus Key, organization officials said.Microsoft is sharing far more specifics about the two pending server bundles a week before the organization;s “Heroes Happen Here” launch of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. Here are a couple of new tidbits I gleaned from chatting with Steven VanRoekel, Senior Director with Microsoft;s Server and Tools Division:* Both Important Server bundles will come in two flavors: Standard and Premium.* The Standard version of Cougar will consist of Windows Server 2008,Microsoft Office 2010 Home And Business, Windows SharePoint Services v3, Exchange Server 2007, Forefront Security for Exchange and Windows Live OneCare for Server,Office Pro Plus 2007, all running on a single server. The Premium version allows customers to run Cougar on two servers, with a second instance of Windows Server 2008, plus SQL Server 2008, on the second server. The Standard version requires a standard client-access license (CAL); the premium, a premium CAL. (Previous Modest Company Servers required a common CAL whether people had the standard or premium release.)* Microsoft is adding much more services to Cougar and pitching it as an example of a Software+Service solution. In addition to the aforementioned Windows Live OneCare for Server (which is a Forefront-security-engine-based antivirus-only solution), Microsoft also is users tight integration between Office Live Little Business, beefed-up Remote Web Workplace and Sharepoint Services 3.0 and Cougar.* Centro, as Microsoft has detailed previously, will include Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, System Center Essentials, Forefront Security for Exchange, the next (still unnamed) version of ISA Server that is due out later on this yr, and for Premium customers, SQL Server 2008.* While Microsoft is touting SQL Server 2008 as being component of Cougar and Centro, if the final release of that product isn;t done in time to make it into the products, Microsoft will bundle SQL Server 2005 into the new servers and give customers a free upgrade to SQL Server 2008 once the final code is available. (Microsoft is currently saying that SQL Server 2008 will likely be released to manufacturing while in the third quarter of this year.) If SQL Server 2008 is included in the server bundles, Microsoft will still give users downgrade rights to SQL Server 2005 to ensure application compatibility.* While Microsoft has touted Cougar and Centro as being 64-bit only releases, Microsoft will supply both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 as part of the premium releases. Only the second server (in Cougar Premium) and the fourth server (in Centro Premium) is going to be 32-bit; the others will likely be 64-bit. VanRoekel said Microsoft is doing this to ensure application compatibility.