Windows

As managing vice president, Rob Helm covers Microsoft collaboration and content management. His 25-plus years of experience analyzing Microsoft’s technology... more

Windows Vista, a major upgrade of the Windows client OS, is now generally available. The next release of the Windows Server OS, Windows Server 2008 (formerly code-named Longhorn) is due to be generally available in late 2007 or early 2008.

In general, Microsoft hopes to release Windows versions more regularly than has been the case in the past, by reducing the kinds of dependencies among major projects that delayed Windows Vista and SQL Server 2005. For this reason it appears that the next version of the Windows client, Windows 7 (product name to be announced later), will be a minor release like Windows Server 2003 R2 than a major release like Vista or Windows Server 2008.

Difficulties in shipping major Windows versions have also affected the company’s release of Windows service packs, which deliver integration-tested packages of bug fixes as well as support for new hardware. For all but the most current versions of Windows, Microsoft will release fewer service packs than it has historically; instead, it will rely on Windows and Microsoft Update to provide customers with access to both critical security and high-priority bug fixes.

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