Information Week: Rethinking The Server

[ Thanks to Buddy for this link.
]

“As more companies run Web servers with cheap, flexible Linux
and Apache open-source software, Microsoft also is weighing
development of a thin-server version of Whistler that could plug
into Web-commerce application servers with little configuration.
The upshot could be lower management costs. ‘If [Microsoft] could
tie that back to [its] enterprise-management software so you could
manage those servers remotely, you’re keeping your head-count costs
down,’ says Kaj Pedersen, VP and general manager at Terra Lycos, a
global Internet service provider and portal site in Walham,
Mass.”

“But some say Microsoft’s operating-system lineup looks more
confusing than a Florida ballot. Whistler in its various
incarnations will ship even as some businesses are just completing
Windows 2000 upgrade projects. Two-thirds of IT executives surveyed
by InformationWeek Research last fall were planning a Windows 2000
server upgrade for this year. ‘Microsoft is moving in so many
directions at the same time that we hope they don’t shoot
themselves in the foot,’ says Joe Visconti, IS manager for
enterprise architecture at Parsons.”

Complete
Story