Windows Server Longhorn preview event to proceed as scheduled

Redmond (WA) - Giving an indication that yesterday’s stunning delay of Windows Vista would not impact the plans of the server division, posters to Microsoft’s internal developers’ blogs revealed more details today about a software design review (SDR) event to be held at a hotel in Bellevue on 11 April.

While the itinerary for sessions to be held during the three-day conference is just now being finalized, one Microsoft developer shared his opinion that he wished more attention was being paid to the 64-bit realm, as it will only be spotlighted in two sessions. Apparently Intel isn’t the only company reducing its focus on 64-bit processing. 

"This event is specifically targeted to meet the needs of application architects, developers and product planners," reads a Microsoft Web address which promotes the event. "Attendees will leave with a solid understanding of the new capabilities that developers can exploit within the platform."

The newest version of Internet Information Server 7.0 will be a key topic, as it is expected to serve as a transition platform between the company’s current Web services and its Windows Communications Foundation, formerly code-named Indigo. Eventually, Microsoft developers have said, though perhaps over a period of three years, IIS will be phased out as the suite of so-called "WS-*" services take over.

The release timetable for Longhorn, as the company’s next edition of Windows Server is still being called, has always been fuzzier than for Vista, the client edition of Windows upon whose schedule so many consumer PC products rely. Customers of the Windows Server operating system may take their time to explore their options, and to evaluate the OS’ usefulness to their business, before crafting detailed implementation plans. For them, conceivably, a delay might not only be little bother, it might not even be noticed.