First, a disclaimer: I'm not a Microsoft-basher nor a fanboy.

Second, a warning: get out your noise-cancelling headphones if you don't want to listen to the marketing machine from Redmond. Things are about to get noisy ...

It seems like a long time ago that a young IT sysadmin (i.e., me) approached a Microsoft product manager at a conference booth back in the mid-90's and commented that Windows NT 3.51 looked to provide similar functionality to UNIX. To which, the reply was: "Yeah. Duh" (or something similar).

Since then, Windows NT and its successors have encroached upon 'proprietary' UNIX (e.g., AIX, HP-UX, Solaris) and fought a(n ongoing) holy war against Linux… to say nothing of decimating Novell NetWare. That only leaves the big iron (i.e., mainframe). More recently, server administrators have silently weathered more than their fair share of Patch Tuesdays, emergency reboots and hotfixes among other duties.

Ah, it's been quite a journey.

IMHO, Microsoft hit a milestone with Windows Server 2003. From (most) objective accounts I've heard, 2003 provided a 'robust enough' server OS for most general-purpose computing requirements. Now, looking ahead to Windows Server 2008, Microsoft is about to build upon that (relatively solid) foundation. New features include reduced/minimal installation option (i.e., 'Server Core'), improved resource accessibility/availability (i.e., read-only domain controllers), improved options for host security/quarantine (i.e., Network Access Protection) plus improved command-line automation (e.g., 'PowerShell').

2008 is also, as most of us know, the basis for the much-touted hypervisor (i.e., Hyper-V). This is undoubtedly the new battleground. In recent times, I've commented on certain relevant aspects of the future of virtualisation and how it relates (e.g., don't believe the FUD , key virtualisation trends for 2008).There's more to be said on that front, suffice to say Microsoft still has a real battle on its hands to displace VMware's (unassailable, imho) lead in server virtualisation.

Perhaps of most disappointment, sadly missing from 2008 is the promise of the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI). While I'm told by Microsoft that DSI isn't dead, and has largely morphed into 'Dynamic IT', it seems unlikely that the baked-in, model-driven approach to enterprise manageability will eventuate this time around (and as previously promised).

It seems that we might have to wait until the next release for that one ...