November 8th, 2006
Will Vista SP1 be a bridge to Longhorn Server?
When Microsoft launches Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 in New York on November 30, company officials will emphasize how the three products work well on their own, but will work a lot "better together."
But what about Longhorn Server? Does that fit into the equation, too, even though it isn't slated to roll out until the latter half of 2007?
Early word on the street is Microsoft's grand plan calls for Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 to hit right about the same time as Longhorn Server. (I have to say I'm somewhat skeptical that Microsoft will be able deliver so quickly, given that SP3 for Windows XP isn't set to arrive until 2008, which will make it four years after XP SP2 launched. But given the fact that many businesses wait until SP1 to deploy a new operating system, the Softies might have reason to rush.)
Not too surprisingly, the Windows client team isn't ready to talk SP1 at all.
"The team is really focused on getting Windows Vista through GA (general availability), and it would be premature to discuss a timeframe for service packs to the operating system," said a corporate spokeswoman.
Whether or not Vista SP1 and Longhorn Server actually do launch in relative proximity, Microsoft still has its better-together ducks in a row and is laying the foundations for explaining how its newest client and server releases will reinforce each other.
I foundsaw a recent blog post from Microsoft Technical Specialist James Senior on this very topic. How will Vista and Longhorn Server work better together?
* More efficient management/deployment, with event forwarding between client and server and network quarantining capabilities, courtesy of Network Access Protection
* Greater availability via seamless offline experience and policy-based quality of service capabilities
* Faster commmunications with native IPV6, improved file-sharing over high-latency links; fast enterprise search on clients and servers There are other Vista-Longhorn Server synergies, too, as Senior points out.
About seventy percent of the codebase between Vista and Longhorn Server is shared. And in the case that "vulnerabilities (are) found in Windows Vista, updates made to the codebase will be incorporated into the Longhorn codebase in realtime so the product is secure by default when launched."
Given the extent to which Vista and Longhorn Server are joined at the hip, a simultaneous Vista SP1 and Longhorn Server release sounds like it would make a lot of sense.
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