Q&A: Microsoft's Eric Rudder outlines Longhorn server plans

Caution led to confusion about the fate of the upcoming Windows server operating system

By Carol Sliwa

August 1, 2003 12:00 PM ET

Recommended

Computerworld - Eric Rudder, senior vice president of servers and tools at Microsoft Corp., last week spoke with Computerworld about the direction for Longhorn, the code name for the next version of the Windows operating system.
Microsoft said last November there would be no Longhorn server. Then Brian Valentine, senior vice president of the Windows division, told me in March that there might be a Longhorn server. Now you're saying there will be a Longhorn server. What happened? We typically do a server release about every three years, and we're eagerly working on the next version of Windows Server as we speak. I think in the past people have been cautious about setting customer expectations, and that potentially [caused] some of the confusion. The client guys are out saying, "Hey, our date is x." If we impart the same name, customers may link in their minds, "Oh, the server has the same name, therefore it's the same date."
So I think people were a little bit scared about setting expectations, because we're pretty serious, once we commit to the schedule for the product, to try to come close to honor that. This is a case where we're clearly customer-driven in terms of feature set, and we're not date-driven on our server products. We're more quality-, performance-, security-, dependability- and ecosystem-driven. It would be fantastic if the server can come out close to the client, and it would be fantastic if it had all the features that customers wanted. We're going to do the best we can to balance between those two business objectives.


Eric Rudder of Microsoft Corp.

Will we see synchronized releases of the Windows client and server operating systems in the future? I think it would be nice if it were synchronized, because it probably makes it a little bit easier for customers to think about how they upgrade their networks on a consistent basis. But we're going to be driven in the end by customer demands and quality demands, and there's a set of business objectives that we need to balance between them. It's hard for me to predict a year out what the balancing is going to look like in any shape or form.
What new functionality is driving the Longhorn server release? With Windows 2003, we had the theme of "do more with less," and we want to continue to push that forward. We want to make some fundamental breakthroughs on management and the operations side. One of the big initiatives is what we call DSI, our Dynamic

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

Servers

Additional Resources

Xerox

Win a color printer!

By using solid ink technology only from Xerox, you could save up to 65% by printing color for the cost of black and white. Enter for a chance to WIN a PhaserTM 8860 network color printer!

Microsoft

Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 today.

Save time and mitigate security risk. Deploy it now.

Sybase

NEXT-GENERATION MOBILITY PLATFORMS

In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.

White Papers & Webcasts

Streaming Compute Vision - An Intel-TCS Collaboration
Download Now

Key Strategies for Managing Data Growth
What are you storage challenges?

Dell Proconsult Windows 7 Readiness Assessment
Download Now

Extending Client Refresh - 11 Steps to Maximize Savings
Register Now!

Faster, Cheaper and Easier to Maintain
Can you afford not to upgrade your servers to today's advanced, energy-efficient technologies?

Lower the Cost and Complexity of a Mobile Workforce through Automation
Download This Resource Now!

Global Distributed Service in the Cloud with F5 and VMware
Learn how F5 and VMware help you orchestrate and deliver access to services in the cloud by providing a robust Application Delivery Networking...

Managing Mobility: Improve Data Security, Compliance and Manageability
Download This Resource Now!

Five Steps to Determine When to Virtualize Your Servers
This white paper outlines five solution-agnostic steps to help you determine when to virtualize your servers.

Consolidate Your Servers and Storage to Lower Costs with Oracle Database 11g
Register for this webcast!

All White Papers | All Webcasts