Add as a preferred source on Google


News

Public Beta of Windows Server 2003 'R2' Expected This Week

Microsoft plans to post a public beta of Windows Server 2003 "R2" this week.

R2 is an interim release of Windows Server 2003 that is supposed to ship by the end of this year. It rolls together several of the Windows Server 2003 feature packs and adds some new capabilities for storage management, branch office server management capabilities and Active Directory.

The server, based on Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 code, will give users an updated version of the code well ahead of the next server version, "Longhorn," which isn't scheduled to ship until 2007. SP1 came out in March. Free upgrades to R2 will require Software Assurance contracts. Other users will get the code when buying new Windows Server 2003 licenses after R2 ships and becomes the default edition.

Microsoft made a private beta of R2 available to about 1,500 testers in December and later expanded the program to about 2,800 testers.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

Featured

  • Microsoft Dismantles RedVDS Cybercrime Marketplace Linked to $40M in Phishing Fraud

    In a coordinated action spanning the United States and the United Kingdom, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) and international law enforcement collaborators have taken down RedVDS, a subscription based cybercrime platform tied to an estimated $40 million in fraud losses in the U.S. since March 2025.

  • Sound Wave Illustration

    CrowdStrike's Acquisition of SGNL Aims to Strengthen Identity Security

    CrowdStrike signs definitive agreement to purchase SGNL, an identity security specialist, in a deal valued at about $740 million.

  • Microsoft Acquires Osmos, Automating Data Engineering inside Fabric

    In a strategic move to reduce time-consuming manual data preparation, Microsoft has acquired Seattle-based startup Osmos, specializing in agentic AI for data engineering.

  • Linux Foundation Unites Major Tech Firms to Launch Agentic AI Foundation

    The Linux Foundation today announced the creation of a new collaborative initiative — the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) — bringing together major AI and cloud players such as Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and other major tech companies.

Most   Popular