Microsoft News Tracker

At the Windows Server Division Weblog - Longhorn Server 64bit plans revealed:

We posted a Web bulletin today to let customers know that Longhorn Server running on Itanium-based servers “is designed specifically for database workloads and custom and line-of-business applications.” The bulletin goes on to state:

Windows Server roles that don’t apply to these workloads for example, fax server, Windows Media Services, Windows SharePoint Services, file and print servers, and others, won’t operate on Windows Server “Longhorn” for Itanium-based systems.
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I haven’t seen press coverage yet, but unless reporters are busy covering the Intel/AMD legal back-and-forth, I’m sure we’ll see something. I expect tabloid reaction.

How about “MICROSOFT BACKS OFF ITANIUM SUPPORT!!!!!” ?

Hopefully folks will remember that this yera alone we’re expanding Itanium support to Visual Studio 2005, .NET Framework 2.0, and SQL Server 2005, and we have 1,600 Itanium servers in the labs for testing Longhorn Server. Windows on Itanium is here for a while.

I guess the net is that Microsoft remains committed to Itanium for Longhorn Server for specialized uses. And while not illogical, that’s less than across the board support.