Exploring Windows Server's Vista ties

Updated 10:55 a.m. with clarification from Microsoft that Hyper-V standalone is not scheduled to ship until sometime in the second half of 2008, contrary to what Muglia stated.

Microsoft is getting ready for what it calls its biggest IT launch in history.

I'm not sure everyone will agree with that notion, but the launch of Windows Server 2008 and the next version of Visual Studio is clearly an important one for Microsoft, given that the server and tools unit has been one of Microsoft's fastest-growing businesses in terms of sales and profits. (Microsoft is also "launching" SQL Server 2008 at the event, but the product itself won't actually be ready until the second half of this year.)

Bob Muglia, senior vice president of Microsoft's Server and Tools Business

(Credit: Microsoft )

Ahead of Wednesday's launch, I had a chance to talk with Server and Tools boss Bob Muglia. Here are some of the highlights from our interview.

What are the Vista ties for Windows Server 2008?
Muglia: One of the most important Vista ties is we are building the products off the same code base and we simultaneously shipped (Windows) Vista SP1 with (Windows) Server 2008. The real benefit of this for customers is that it makes it simpler for us to maintain and drive the systems forward as we learn about security issues.

There is an enormous amount of work that went into improving the security across the board that applies to both the client and the server. And then there are some very specific things on the server we have done. All of the ports are closed by default and we only open them up as the roles are installed on a machine.

Are there also some ties in terms of the network access protection feature?
Muglia: We worked across the client and server teams to build network access protection so that when clients are out in the wild and they rejoin the corporate network, they have to run a health check to make sure they fully meet the company policies and they have the latest set of patches and antimalware signatures before they join the network.

Is there a "live" component to Windows Server?
Muglia: The biggest "live" component is the fact that Windows Live runs on Windows Server. Microsoft.com is running entirely on Windows Server 2008 right now. A good part of the Windows Live servers are running Windows Server 2008. We don't have any direct connection to Windows Live because Windows Live is really targeted to consumers.

It seems like every part of the business is getting a services component. I'm curious what that looks like for your part of the business.
Muglia: What we're doing is we are looking at the things that customers do with servers inside their infrastructure and are looking at how we can bring those to customers as a service. As an example, my team is driving (Microsoft) Online. That group today is offering hosted messaging and e-mail, so hosted Exchange and Sharepoint and Unified Communications. We are also working on desktop management.

Is that a starting point?
Muglia: It's really just the first set of roles. We'll continue to look at a wide variety of roles that make sense to be delivered as a set of services.

Corporate adoption of Vista was somewhat slower than Microsoft had expected. What do you think the adoption cycle will be for Windows Server 2008?
Muglia: It's important to realize how people adopt a new server. People have a lot of servers running inside their data center (already) and we really don't see a large number of those being upgraded to Windows Server 2008. One of the key things about Windows Server 2008 has been to run right next to 2003 and even 2000 and be a good neighbor. We do expect that as customers begin to deploy new servers, a very significant number of those will deploy with Windows Server 2008. With Windows Server 2003 we saw a pretty quick uptake.

Do you have a sense of how much 2008's release affects overall server growth rates. Is it neutral, is it an accelerant?
Muglia: We don't anticipate any massive change in the number of hardware servers shipped because of the introduction of Server 2008. Servers continue to grow pretty well and Windows Server is outgrowing the overall market fairly considerably right now.

As the economy faces challenges, there are some concerns for overall IT spending. I'm curious what your thoughts are and what a slower economy in the U.S. might mean for your business.
Muglia: We are a worldwide business, so the U.S. is only a part of our sales. We have very strong expectations of growth in the future. When we look at the businesses that, say, my organization is in, we are still a small percentage of total IT spend in those areas. There is a lot of upside opportunity for Microsoft to grow our business even if IT spend is reduced or not growing as fast?

One of the hot areas of discussion these days is virtualization. One of the things we are hearing about is the idea that the hypervisor is going to be built in to the hardware. I know VMware has something in that area, as does Xen. Is that something Microsoft is looking at?
Muglia: We've said we will be offering Hyper-V as a standalone solution, so that is an option for our (hardware) partners. We actually are certainly in conversations about that. Our plan is to release Hyper-V standalone as the same time as Hyper-V, which is within 180 days of Server 2008, which makes it early August. (Update: Microsoft said on Tuesday that Muglia misspoke and that the standalone version of Hyper-V will ship later, some time in the second half of 2008.)

[42istheanswer]

Vista & Server 2008

If Vista is an indicator of how 2008 will be, I'll be holding off implementing for quite some time. As with XP, the evolution of 2000 and 2003 was a slow and steady progression over the years to something somewhat stable and useful. Oh, I'm sure we'll get forced into upgrading in time, but I'm not going to pop a dvd in all the servers and upgrade next month. It doesn't happen like that. If it's good enough, it'll still be around in 5 years when I retire my last 2000 server.

Oh, by the way, printing STINKS in Vista! If 2008 follows that trend, you'll have to pry the 2003 installation CD from my cold dead fingers. Give me a break M$ & HP!

[rcrusoe]

I agree

I'd think MS would down play the Vista / Server 2008 connection
considering how many businesses consider Vista a "Windows XP
(ME Edition)"

[rdgadz]

printing?

i think exactly the opposite about printing in vista, it was like night and day especially for my epson 2400. sure early drivers had some bugs but now they are flawless and a joy to use.

printing in mixed company, xp and vista, can be frustrating at times but id still rather print from my vista machine.

[James_U]

Major Disagreement - Just Give It a Try

Tell you what. Get the beta or trial version (if it is still out there) and give this product a try. I did, and must tell you that I was blown away. While Vista may have missed the mark on several levels, my impression of this product was the complete opposite. This product is awesome. I was most impressed with the number of features that come standard with the product and how well they are designed. The level of integration and simplicity in installing and managing the product was impressive. I loaded the 64-bit version, and the level of security was also top notch. The beta I had ran like a champ. I would have to struggle to find bad things to say. About my only complaint was that I couldn't run certain products on the beta because they weren't yet supported. To be expected with a beta product. I suspect the final version will address this. This product rocks.

[Penguinisto]

Server upgrades are far, far slower

I just got rid of the last Win2k server box we had here, late last year.

Personally, I've only got two Windows-based servers left in my own stable, and I suspect that I can ditch those within the next 1-2 years.

[i]"Oh, by the way, printing STINKS in Vista!"[/i]

To be fair, printing sucks in any OS, period. :)

/P

[bluvg]

Does #1 on Netcraft's uptime list count as "somewhat stable"?

from: http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/today/top.avg.html

1 www.root102.co.uk Windows Server 2003
2 home.iijnet.or.jp BSD/OS
3 fp002.crayfish.net Windows 2000

[James_U]

Loaded & Loved the Beta

I downloaded the beta copy of this product in December. I've worked with server OSes for roughly 20 years or so. I think this is the best server OS I have ever seen. Talk about a company coming from obscurity 10 years ago to a leading position. NT4 left *A LOT* to be desired. 2000 was solid, but still lacking. 2003 was solid. 2008 makes every other OS that I play with look old and stale. It had an unreal list of features in it, and it only took ~20 minutes to install on my box. My prediction: This product will begin the domination by MSFT on the server side just like they did on the desktop. Until a company releases something that can match it, I'm not sure why I would use an alternative. 10 years from now they will own this market. Everyone else seems to have given up while these guys continue pushing the envelope and thinking of ways to integrate it with their other assets.

[rnieves1977]

wow

you seemed WAAAAY too enthusiastic.. you sure your not on MS payroll. lol

[RompStar_420]

ehhhhh

I have never been blown away with any product that MS put out. The only time I was blown away was with OS X and that's about it.

I have not been blown away with any version of Unix or Linux (even tho I run all my servers off of that and they are rock solid), I like it a lot, but I would never use the word blown away.

XP to date is the best that I seen as far as Windows goes, Vista is crap, and I don't really use server MS anything, so I can't comment on that.

[zextron]

Great OS

I agree. This is the best OS I've worked with (working since 1988). I've got several customers working with the beta because of remote printing (terminal services). This time they got it right. No need to wait for service pack 1. As for Vista... I think it will get OK after SP1 (I'm using vista SP1 beta on business edition to make things work).

[1fastnigel]

I Love microsoft..........NOT

no wonder the windows live access was down today...10 est, microsoft runs it on their server: microsoft hell = vista

[developIT]

Someone's turning green with envy...

Can't blame you for loving such an irrelevant product. Classic ABMer.

[robbiewww]

so i guess thats why i cant access hotmail all this morning

"Muglia: The biggest "live" component is the fact that Windows Live runs on Windows Server"

so i guess thats why i cant access hotmail all this morning =/

[suyts]

The reason you can't is

because MS released a large update to Live Messenger. All the downloads and net activity blocked some connections. Nothing to do with what server they're using.

[FutureGuy]

yahoo was down too

and I am guessing they don't run windows.