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David Overton's Blog » SBS 2003 R2 delay and what people are saying baout it - especially Vlad
SBS 2003 R2 delay and what people are saying baout it - especially Vlad

Sometimes you have to shout about when you think things are right while others are putting it down. SBS 2003 R2 - I have had sooooooo many conversations over the last 9 months about why this feature is in or out.  I ended up being very blunt, saying, this is the 2nd release of SBS 2003, it has a bunch of new features ala Windows Server 2003 R2, yes, it might not have everything in we wanted, but the "Green Check" and SQL 2005 are significant enough that NEW customers and existing customers should look at it.

Now, here we are, having just releases SBS 2003 R2 and we are pulling it back in due to bugs, before it has reached the shelves for most people.  I was expecting flak, but instead I see comments like this at Vlad's site saying thanks for us actually being bold enough to fix the problem. It is also worth going to his site to see the video!!! 

 This is why I love the Small Biz community - we can be honest with each other.  At the Small Biz Blog we were able to say that there is a quality issue and we wanted to fix it before it got out the door.  We get credit from Larry for making this move.  I have spent 5 years in MS working with partners and also journalists, and this is easily the nicest response I have had for this type of issue,

so THANK-YOU small business community for making this an enjoyable place to work

ttfn

 

David

Posted Fri, Jul 28 2006 11:04 PM by David Overton
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Comments

iQubed wrote re: SBS 2003 R2 delay and what people are saying baout it - especially Vlad
on Sat, Jul 29 2006 10:12 AM

I've got a couple of questions:

Is it worth holding out for the general availability of SBS 2003 R2 for new projects? Is there an indication of timescales for the UK? (doesn't sound like this is too serious in the grand scheme of things)

What's the upgrade path to SBS 2003 R2 from SBS 2003 SP1? Are they any resources on this?

Cheers,

Vijay

David Overton wrote re: SBS 2003 R2 delay and what people are saying baout it - especially Vlad
on Sat, Jul 29 2006 11:08 AM

Vijay,

There is loads of SBS info at http://www.microsoft.com/sbs, but specifically there is upgrade info at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/upgrade/default.mspx

On the timescales, I would expect it to be "in the shops" by September - but don't hold me to that just yet.

On the is it worth waiting for new customers - if they buy SBS 2003 SP1 OEM edition then they can get R2 for free via the Tech Guarantee programme - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/r2/upgrade.mspx.  As for the features, you need to decide if the features listed at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/evaluation/features/default.mspx and top ten reasons at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/evaluation/top.mspx are good enough.

ttfn

David

iQubed wrote re: SBS 2003 R2 delay and what people are saying baout it - especially Vlad
on Sat, Jul 29 2006 2:41 PM

Thanks for that, I'll check out those resources.

I'm particularly interested in the new patch management that's integrated in using WSUS and the improved monitoring services. Sounds like it will make managing SBS easier and ultimately better serve customers.

Cheers,

Vijay

Tim Long wrote re: SBS 2003 R2 delay and what people are saying baout it - especially Vlad
on Sat, Jul 29 2006 4:40 PM

Two things.

First, absolutely well done Microsoft. I don't think anyone can criticise MS for doing the right thing. Ive seen some software developers make a release, find bugs in it, fix the bugs then slipstream the fixes into the release media without even revving the version number. That's a nasty mess waiting to happen. Far better to come clean and do what Microsoft just did with SBS R2.

Second. I understand that the problem is that some of the files on the media were "old versions". I asume that means that we're probably no worse off than if we had installed SBS SP1 and that eventually the files would have been updated through WSUS? Related to that question, speaking as someone who already has SBS-R2 media that would have been affected by this, would installs already done from that media be stable? Is it just a case of waiting for WSUS updates or would a new/update install need to be done when the fixed media is released?

David Overton wrote re: SBS 2003 R2 delay and what people are saying baout it - especially Vlad
on Sat, Jul 29 2006 11:09 PM

Tim,

I can't answer that for sure right now, but we will make patches available (probably via Windows Updates) to ensure people's systems run fine.  I am running R2 RTM and at the moment I am not seeing bad problems.  Many internal people have asked the same question and we hope to get an answer very soon

ttfn

David

apedder wrote re: SBS 2003 R2 delay and what people are saying baout it - especially Vlad
on Mon, Jul 31 2006 12:48 PM

Is there any info available about what the bugs are?

We put out an R2 Standard server for a client a week and a half ago. It has a few minor problems, but it would be nice to know whether they are recall bugs, or just something we need to sort out.

Thanks,

Adam

David Overton wrote re: SBS 2003 R2 delay and what people are saying baout it - especially Vlad
on Mon, Jul 31 2006 1:23 PM

Adam,

do you want to mail me with the info at [email protected] and I will forward internally to get you an answer :-)

As soon as I get more info, I will pop it back onto the blog.

ttfn

David

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