I recently took a break from the Mac ‘apple juice’ and just got back from spending 3 days in sunny Tulsa Oklahoma with one of my buds from Microsoft. Over the course of a few days we installed a 64-bit SBS server and network, played with some new technology, and got to put Window Vista Ultimate (build 5472) through its paces on a really nice HP machine.
If you haven’t seen Vista since Beta 2 back in the Spring, it’s come a LONG way. The July CTP is much more stable and looks absolutely fantastic on a top-knotch PC with a huge flatscreen TV. There are still some bugs with the DVD burning, some network cards say there is no connection (when they really are connected) and there’s no decent driver for the Haupauge video card yet. Driver issues are par for the course and to be expected in a beta. Driver issues aside, I can say after years of waiting for Vista it’s really getting close folks!
Admittedly, the SMB community is flustered over the SBS R2 delay (which I won’t beat into the ground). But with SBM Nation in Redmond and the Microsoft SBS Parter Tour in Louisville showcasing SBS R2, Vista and Office 2007, September is gonna rock!