Microsoft has been outlining its plans for servers and netbooks at the Computex show in Taiwan.
Steve Guggenheimer, Microsoft’s OEM division corporate vice president, told attendees that the company will release Windows 7 in October, and Windows Server 2008 R2 at “broadly” the same time.
Microsoft is preparing the two operating systems to be ready for two smaller markets, namely entry-level servers and netbooks.
On the server front, Guggenheimer said that OEMs such as Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, IBM and NEC have signed up to build smaller servers running Windows Server 2008 Foundation.
The software is designed for single-processor servers used by around 15 clients, and lacks key Linux features like support for virtualisation. The code is aimed at small companies that are currently using consumer PCs for business, and want to make the jump to their first server.
Microsoft making entry level operating systems for different target markets/operations has to be a good thing. As we try to on-board more users from the small/medium business, the more seem-less and accessible, the more opportunities for revenue, for delivery and opportunities are created for vendors and end users alike.
