By Michael Cherry [bio]
Posted: Sep. 17, 2007

The following is an illustration accompanying an article published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. More samples of our content, as well as a list of upcoming articles and reports are also available.

The next major release of Windows Server is Windows Server 2008, planned for early 2008.

The last update to Windows Server was Windows Server 2003 SP2. It was released in Mar. 2007 and includes some new features and some previously released feature packs, such as Windows Deployment Services, which supports Windows Vista deployment.

Microsoft will also ship a third service pack for Windows XP and a first service pack for Windows Vista in 2008. Vista's successor, currently referred to as Windows 7, is likely to emerge in 2010. A future release of Internet Explorer (IE), currently known as IE 8, will also ship no later than Windows 7.