Windows "Longhorn" Server, Yes, No, Maybe?

Microsoft said in November that Longhorn, due to ship in 2005, would be client-only. But the company did a partial-about-face earlier this month, saying it was too early to tell whether a server version would ship. Then in an interview Friday, Bob O'Brien, group product manager for Windows Server, said that the company was right the first time: no Longhorn server version.

"Last fall, when we talked about there not being a Longhorn server, that was spot-on," O'Brien said. Longhorn will be arriving too soon after Windows Server 2003 for enterprises to be ready to do another full upgrade to server operating systems. Windows Server 2003, the next version of the operating system, is due out next month. Then comes Longhorn about two years later, then a server version code-named Blackcomb, due in 2007 or 2008.

However, Microsoft may introduce updates to Windows Server 2003 to take advantage of some capabilities in Longhorn. Those updates will be add-on software that Microsoft is calling "layered functionality"; they will not require an operating system re-install, O'Brien said. New capabilities expected to materialize in Longhorn include user interface refinements, multimedia capabilities, and built-in relational database technology to enable better searches of e-mail, documents and photos.

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Erdmännchen

Thanks, already posted some time ago

Despite necro-posting, there will be NO windows longhorn server, LongHorn will be an Operating System purely for end/home-user; nothing more, nothing less. BlackComb will be the server OS advancement with MANY new features which I have been outlining since the day I started here.