Some more details have emerged on what we can expect in Longhorn Server, the first beta of which looks set to appear by August of this year, just around about the same time as beta 1 of the Longhorn client OS.
"We are always looking for new opportunities where server technology can be leveraged, and the home definitely represents an exciting new area that we are looking at along with many others. Much of the great storage, replication, and management technology would be great in a home," Windows Server Senior Vice President Bob Muglia said. "We have seen many people install Small Business Servers at home, which really works quite well."
The OS will have multiple versions of the Microsoft Jet database engine, Jet Red and Jet Blue. Jet Red is used by Microsoft Access, whereas Jet Blue is used widely within the Windows Server, including in Active Directory and Exchange Server. Longhorn server will also be role-based, allowing administrators to choose from among 20 different "levels of functionality", to quickly create file and print servers, or DNS servers, etc. It will also include Network Access Protection security functionality; additional management capabilities; a new version of Internet Information Services; new Terminal Server functionality; cached-storage technology and much, much more.