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Windows 2003 Going Gold

chill writes "According to CNet's News.com, 'Microsoft is expected to announce on Friday that Windows Server 2003 has completed testing and has been certified final, or gold, code.' With 35% of their server customers still using NT 4 -- the NT 4 that is so broke it can't be fixed -- Microsoft is hoping for quick adoption."

18 of 581 comments (clear)

  1. Re:2003...in 2003? by shamilton · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From the screenshots I've seen, 2003 doesn't use the Luna decorations. I guess they may just be turned off.

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  2. NT4 upgrade path by DrXym · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I wonder how much of that 35% is using NT for file and print services or a web server?


    Instead of incurring the massive expense of replacing the equipment that currently runs NT 4 plus the licences of running Windows 2003, perhaps they should just move over to Linux. Maybe there is scope for an advertising campaign from Red Hat or others that says as much.


    Better yet, perhaps someone should offer an NT 'migration kit' which attempts to replicate the NT services and settings in Linux.

    1. Re:NT4 upgrade path by Malc · · Score: 2, Interesting

      As somebody who has worked with both NT4 and Win2K, I would take the latter any day. NT4 is very frustrating to work with in comparison to NT4. And if you ever have to rebuild a server, NT4 takes a lot more effort. It's simple things like the iisreset command that is very good at restarting IIS without having to reboot. In fact, we've had some misbehaved ISAPI extensions that will not unload and would cause NT4 servers hang on shut down, requiring either network addressable power bars (risky), or trips to the colocation facilities.

      Personally I think it's foolish to run insecure OSes even if they're behind a firewall. The firewall gives you a false sense of security. Anything that gets past it will be able to exploit your insecure NT4 machines. Nimda for example got on to our corporate network via laptops of the sales and marketing people who had connected them to the internet either at home or on the road.

  3. Its the beginning of the end for MS by TerryAtWork · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Now that Palladium is going to lock me into Windows, I'm switching to OpenBSD with some GUI on it.

    And I've been a windows guy forever...

    When even guys like me leave, that's it.

    Mind you, this'll take some years yet...

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  4. I still use NT 4... by ghack · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I still use NT 4, so does my university. Hell, they only upgraded some of their machines from linux 1.x about a year ago.

    Three years from now a sizable portion of the windows server marketbase will still be using windows nt. NT SP6 is a solid product: if it works, why upgrade? Sure it might have security issues, but if you think new MS OS'es dont you're insane.

  5. Re:let's consider age by Christianfreak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But MS promised its customers that it would support NT until either this summer or early next year (I think there was some confusion about that). Its not about age its about what MS says they are going to do. Its nothing new that MS breaks promises but it is amazing to me that so many companies and individuals blatently pander to them even after this kind of crap.

  6. Re:It's an excellent strategy. by diablobynight · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Windows 2000 Advanced was far better than all the previous NTs, and from what I have seen, Windows 2003 server runs amazingly quick and light. There seem to be significant performance advantages to the upgrade. And by the way, there were many facilities that never ever got code red or Nimda. because microsoft had a patch out almost immediately and if you were intelligent, you downloaded it and applied it. If there were have as many hackers trying to hack linux as there are people trying to hack windows, I am sure we would see all of Linux's flaws as well.

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  7. Bitching about NT4 not being patched... by skrowl · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is like saying you want patches for your 1.3.x Linux kernel branch (which was released around the same time as NT 4). Think Linus would care if there were a flaw found in 1.3.75? DOUBTFUL.

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  8. Re:It's an excellent strategy. by Zocalo · · Score: 2, Interesting
    No arguments from me there, I'm in a mixed shop although we generally prefer Linux/Solaris, especially at the high end of server selection. If going the Microsoft route, Windows 2000 is by far and away the best version of Windows shipping for servers, and I'd have to go with XP for the desktop (with styles on or off).

    As to the patching/flaws thing, my point was that some people only upgrade (and to an only slightly lesser extent, patch) their OS when they upgrade their hardware. That's certainly true for *nix as well, although I would expect to see a higher proportion of *nix users keeping on top of patches than Windows, purely because of the demographics of the userbases. Most *nix users have made an informed decision to go down that route, whereas many Windows users are using it purely because it's what the box came with from the vendor.

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  9. Re:Gold? by Speare · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Microsoft has used the term "gold" since before they were burning CD masters. Windows 3.1 and almost all products before that were mastered on floppies. Some reference materials were available on CD-ROM, but not many, until Windows 3.0 MPC and Windows 3.1 made CD-ROM an obvious and ubiquitous replacement.

    The top tier authoritative master, regardless of media type, is "gold," and the direct copies from that master are "silvers." It's the silvers that are taken to the various departments to sign off, and silvers that are taken to the production facility. The gold goes in the vault.

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  10. Windows 2003 Server is due to release on April 24 by AdamBa · · Score: 2, Interesting
    At least, this is true according to the giant banners with that date hung all over Microsoft's main campus, plus the digital sign near Building 26 that is counting down the days until it ships. It's for 2 other products besides Server, which I forget (Visual Studio and SQL, maybe?).

    - adam

  11. NT4 uptime record?! by mrm677 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've got a Dell server running NT4 with an uptime of over 500 days. The nice thing about such an old OS is that it doesn't get updated every 2-6 months! And because I'm behind a firewall, I don't need to worry about the recent vulnerability.

    If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

  12. This is supposed to be an upgrade? by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Microsoft is expected to announce on Friday that Windows Server 2003 has completed testing and has been certified final, or gold, code.

    Final code? Does that mean this one can't be
    fixed, either?

    With 35% of their server customers still using NT 4

    At least the NT4 users know what bugs they are dealing with. With 2003 you have the joy of discovering a whole new set of bugs. And having to pay for the privilege too.

    One man's upgrade in another man's pain in the ass. That's not a bug, that's a feature. Etc.

    Paugh.

  13. Re:Version 1.0? by glh · · Score: 2, Interesting


    I'd hardly equate it with version 1.0 software. Last time I checked, Windows has been around for awhile and they reuse code. Modern Windows is much more mature than Windows of the previous decade. A better analogy would be a .0 release of RedHat - wait for the .1 or .2


    I wasn't trying to imply that 1.0 is a bad thing, just that there are a lot of new things that make it unlike its forebearers.

    From my understanding, a significant part of it has been revamped/rewritten. At least in terms of the web side of things (I'm a developer so I know that much), it means an entirely new version of IIS that runs a completely different process model. Undoubtedly a lot of core server applications will also be written in the .NET framework which is essentially a new platform. It's kind of like saying VB.NET is really VB version 7.0, which would be quite a stretch. Going from COM to .NET is like going from DOS to Windows. Anyway, it's possible that Windows .NET Server is not quite *that* significant of a move, but I think it is probably more significant than going from NT to 2000 was. This page highlights a list of them.

    Hope that clarifies

  14. What about MCSE by SuDZ · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What about certification? I mean when 2K came out there were a lot of complaints about how if you failed the Win2K test you had to start over. Does this mean it will be the same with 2k3? If so that means people who want to keep the cert get to shell out another few hundred to about a grand on books , classes and teting.

    SuDZ

  15. Re:Linux doesn't support ACLs by Bombcar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yup, it does. There are some little squiggles, (such as the Everyone group can't be removed, to get the same result that you get from removing it in Win2k, you have to deny all permissions to it), but other then that it works fine (be sure you compile Samba with ACL support.)

  16. Re:It's an excellent strategy. by rlowe69 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Maybe Microsoft should release the source code to products that they no longer support so that users can fix the unfixable flaws.

    They can't do that because then people would be able to figure out how much NT4 code is still in the main Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 development trunk. There is probably a lot more NT code there than people realise. You know, if it ain't broke ...

    Microsoft's customers wouldn't think too highly of that given the upgrades they've been 'forced' to buy. It would be a PR disaster.

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  17. Re:Man o Man by Johnny+Mnemonic · · Score: 2, Interesting


    More like the locksmith answering: get a new house. Oh, but this time, you can't buy one; you have to rent. And, there's cameras everywhere to determine if you're using your rental the way that the landlords think you should; if you have a disagreement, you're evicted.

    Maybe this is trollbait, but oh well. What's karma for anyway?

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