As these requirements have been changing, Microsoft developers have been working in tandem on Windows Vista and Windows Server, code-named Longhorn, which will be called Windows Server 200x as appropriate upon its release.

With the recent release of Windows Vista and Longhorn Server Beta 2, the teams have split again, and the Longhorn Server group is adding a few new features and then focusing on performance and reliability as the release date draws closer.

You're probably curious about what Longhorn Server brings to the table. In this preview, I'll discuss the more significant changes to the operating system architecture and then follow up on the newest features in this release. Finally, I'll take a look at the tentative release schedule and give some final thoughts on the viability of this major revision to Windows on the server.

The biggest changes

Unlike the transition from Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003, which was a fairly minor "point-style" update, Longhorn Server is a radical revision to the core code base that makes up the Windows Server product. Longhorn Server shares quite a bit of fundamental code with Windows Vista, which was a product derived directly from the techniques of the Secure Development Model -- a sea change in programming methodologies at Microsoft that puts secure code at the forefront of all activity. Thus, a lot of new features and enhancements you will see in the product are a result of a more secure code base and an increased focus on system integrity and reliability.