Windows Server 2008 Is Ready

Today, Microsoft finally released Windows Server 2008. The long-awaited new version of the Windows OS for servers arrived as Microsoft's first challenge against VMWare, marking the entry point into the virtualization realm for Microsoft. I know they had Virtual PC around for a while, but now we're talking about something completely different, as you're going to find out right away...


While Virtual PC was simply a virtualization software, Windows Server 2008 comes with a test version of Hyper-V, a technology that puts virtualization right into the core of the operating system. Basically, Hyper-V adds an extra software layer between the operating system itself and the hardware part, but within six months, Microsoft expects to fully integrate this technology into the OS.

On the other hand, VMWare announced yesterday an agreement to integrate its software into DEll, HP and IBM servers, so it seems a very interesting battle is just about to start... or continue with a higher intensity, depending how you want to look at it.

Windows Server 2008 is available in both 64-bit and 32-bit versions, so you won't have to throw away those old 32-bit servers...just yet.