Microsoft News Tracker

The final version details for Windows Server 2008 were revealed today at the Microsoft TechEd IT Forum 2007 in Barcelona by Bob Kelly, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Infrastructure Server Marketing. To anyone familiar with Microsoft’s past server operating systems, there isn’t much that’s particularly novel except in regard to the new Viridian virtualization capability which has now been formally named Hyper-V:

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Michael Kanellos and Tom Krazit at CNET have the story which is aptly titled Strike Three for Intel:

AMD’s surge can be seen most strongly in the U.S. retail market, which accounts for about 9 percent of global PC shipments. In the first seven weeks of 2006, AMD’s share in desktops in that area climbed to 81.5 percent, while Intel’s has slid to 18.5 percent, Baker said. That’s almost a complete reversal of their typical relative positions.

In notebooks, Intel’s share has declined to 63 percent, even though (NPD Techworld analyst Steve) Baker and others generally agree that Intel enjoys a technological advantage in laptops.

Just to be clear, this is only sales in US retail stores which excludes direct PC vendors like market leader Dell, which is exclusively an Intel shop, but it’s still a stunner. Hit the article for some analysis, but a key factor seems to be pricing and AMD relationship building. AMD is gaining share in servers as well.

It likely makes little difference to Microsoft whether Intel or AMD is leading, although it undoubtedly gives them more leverage in their dealings with Intel. There’s one area though where all three are getting hit and that’s 64-bit:

It looks like the world isn’t clamoring for 64-bit desktops just yet.

Nearly two and a half years have passed since 64-bit processors started going into PCs. But the software to take full advantage of these chips remains scarce, and customers aren’t buying much of what’s out there.
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The dearth can be seen in a lot of ways. Microsoft released a 64-bit version of Windows for desktops last May, but has sold few copies, according to analysts.
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Instead, most PC makers and software developers will wait until Vista, the next version of Windows

“There is just not enough driver support for 64-bit Windows,” said Rahul Sood, president of VoodooPC. “We don’t offer it. We are waiting for Vista.”

The slow emergence of a 64-bit ecosystem also means that those consumers who bought 64-bit systems in the past few years to “future proof” themselves against a software conversion really didn’t. By the time Vista comes out, those early 64-bit computers will be 3 years old, closing in on the typical four-year replacement cycle.

There’s more analysis in the article, but lack of driver support is always the kiss of death. If the drivers were there, you could make a case for running 32-bit apps on the 64-bit operating system in compatibility mode. Instead, most folks are running the 64-bit processor in 32-bit legacy mode.

(Via Tom Archer) The much anticipated December Community Technical Preview of Windows Vista has been released. It’s build 5270, available in x86 and x64 versions, and the downloads are listed here. They include:

WinFX Runtime Components (RTC) - WinFX redistributables (runtime binaries) for executing WinFX applications

Windows SDK - Includes the header files, libraries and help documentation for developing the next generation of Windows applications. Note that this release (and all future releases of the Windows SDK includes the WinFX SDK).

Visual Studio Code Name “Orcas” CTP WinFX Development Tools - provides developers with support for building WinFX applications using the final released version of Visual Studio 2005. This support includes XAML Intellisense support through schema extensions for the editor, project templates for the Windows Presentation Foundation and the Windows Communication Foundation, and WinFX SDK documentation integration. New to this CTP is a preview of the Visual Designer for Windows Presentation Foundation (code name “Cider”).

Windows Vista - substantial advance in Windows with significant innovations in the developer platform. Combining Windows Vista and the Windows SDK makes it easier than ever before to build applications that are more secure, reliable, and manageable.

There’s more by following the link, but note that all of the above except Windows Vista itself are publicly downloadable. Vista is only available to MSDN Universal subscribers and official beta testers. Robert McLaws reports that it may be a couple of days before it actually appears on MSDN. ActiveWin has some screenshots and a detailed list of new features.

Update: Nate Mook has a good overview of new features at BetaNews.

As anticipated, Microsoft has released Beta 1 of Exchange 12, their mail and calendar server product, and confirmed that the final version may ship as late as early 2007. Press release:

Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of Microsoft® Exchange “12″ Beta 1 — the code name for the next version of its leading server for e-mail, calendaring and unified messaging, to a select group of testers. Exchange “12″ will reduce the cost and complexity of the messaging system by providing more control for IT administrators, more value and expanded inbox access for end users, and increased security and compliance for organizations. With the release of Beta 1 — a major development milestone that gives customers, original equipment manufacturers, independent software vendors and systems integrators worldwide the opportunity to preview and provide feedback on Exchange “12″ — Microsoft is on track to make the final release generally available in late 2006 or early 2007.

There’s a list of enhancements by following the link and at the Exchange 12 web site. Microsoft had announced in November that Exchange 12 will run on x64 64-bit systems only.

Stephen Lawson at InfoWorld:

For the first time, Microsoft Windows was the leading OS in new servers in the third quarter, as the overall worldwide server market grew a robust 8.1 percent, market research company IDC said Tuesday.

After a long period focused on cutting costs and buying servers just to run current applications, enterprises are once again investing strategically in systems to handle future workloads, said IDC analyst Matt Eastwood. IT organizations are once again being asked to support real growth, he said.
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Sales of Windows systems accounted for 36.9 percent of all server revenue in the quarter, versus 31.7 percent for Unix and 11.5 percent for Linux, Eastwood said.

Gartner reported slightly slower server revenue growth, but both said the biggest growth was in servers priced under $25K. IBM, HP, and Dell (in order) have the largest shares with Sun now relegated to 4th place.

Much more by following the link, but also of note:

Processors with 64-bit capability are leaping to the forefront of the x86 server market, according to IDC. In the third quarter, 69 percent of all x86 servers sold had 64-bit-capable processors, compared with just 9 percent a year earlier, Eastwood said. Most of those chips are still running only 32-bit applications, but enterprises are investing for the future, he said.

Vendors switching over to exclusively x64 offerings has something to do with it too.