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Windows Server 2003 Unleashed

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer officially unleashed Windows Server 2003 today during an official launch party in San Francisco this morning.

(San Francisco) Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer officially unleashed Windows Server 2003 today during an official launch party in San Francisco this morning. The launch, broadcast to several locations nationwide, capped a three-year development cycle that included delays brought on by, among, other things, antitrust compliance and Trustworthy Computing Initiative security reworkings.

A Windows Server 2003 180-day evaluation kit is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/
trial/default.mspx
. At the moment, it's only available in English, but the company says that it plans to localize the kit within the next few weeks.

Steve Ballmer's keynote presentation from San Francisco will be available on demand at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/launch/
keynotewebcast.mspx
.

On the certification front, the company did not release any new exam information at the event. Beta versions of the first core exams for the MCSE on Windows Server 2003—70-290: Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment, 70–291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure, 70-293: Planning and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure, 70-294: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure —so far are still targeted for release in June this year, according the exam objectives guides on the MCP Web site. (Also expected in June are beta exams for 70-292: Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2003 for an MCSA on Windows 2000 and 70-296: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining Windows Server 2003 for an MCSE on Windows 2000, which are upgrade exams.)

Microsoft in March also released its Microsoft Skills Assessments, currently a free service that allows IT professionals to assess ongoing learning of Windows Server 2003. The company says that more than 15,000 people have taken the assessment since it was made available.

[More news from the launch event will be available on the Web site tomorrow.—Michael Domingo, Editor]

About the Author

Michael Domingo has held several positions at 1105 Media, and is currently the editor in chief of Visual Studio Magazine.

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