Windows

Windows client and server OSs including Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Longhorn client, and Windows Longhorn Server

The next major Windows releases will be Windows Vista and a major refresh to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) to add some Windows Vista features, both due in late 2006. The next major Windows Server release will not come until 2007, but an interim release code-named R2 with some new features is due in late 2005. (See the illustration “Windows Client and Server Overview“.) Just shipped in 2005 are Windows editions that support the new x64 processor architecture, a 64-bit architecture developed by AMD and now adopted by Intel. (See the chart “64-Bit Products“.)

Microsoft hopes to deliver new OS versions roughly every two years, alternating between updates (such as Windows Server 2003 R2) and full platform releases (such as Longhorn Server). The company hopes to ship each server release 9 to 12 months after the corresponding client release. For older versions of the OS, Microsoft will probably issue fewer service packs than it has historically; instead, issuing update rollups that contain selections of high-priority bug fixes, like the June 2005 update rollup for Windows 2000.