Windows Server 2003 RTM

In a Friday morning conference call with members of the technical press, Microsoft Corporate vice president of the Windows Server group Bill Veghte announced that the company completed development of Windows Server 2003 that morning and released the product to manufacturing. Later in the day, Microsoft informed me that Windows Server 2003 build 3790 was declared Golden Master. Veghte, clearly enthused by the milestone and eager to celebrate the event with his development team, provided a summary of the day's news, telling reporters that his day was off to a great start.

"I'm happy to announce that, today, Windows Server 2003 is release to manufacturing," he said. "It's done. It was a pretty amazing process, and an accomplishment I'm very proud of. This product represents the hard work of thousands of people across Microsoft and thousands of our partners. It's a tribute to their dedication and commitment, and delivers a great value to our customers."

Veghte said that Windows Server 2003 was the highest quality release of Windows Server ever, representing over three years of work from over 5000 software developers. The product features more than 650 technology innovations and enhancements, he said.

Windows Server 2003 will be launched April 24 in San Francisco alongside Visual Studio .NET 2003 and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition 64-bit. But the product extends far beyond a simple release date, as several components--including the company's Real-Time Communications server (code-named Greenwich), Windows Rights Management (WRM) service, SharePoint Services for Windows Server 2003, and several others--will ship in the months ahead. Details are forthcoming, Veghte said. "I look at this release as the foundation of a comprehensive and integrated platform that will lower costs and increase efficiency for our customers. Microsoft an innovation engine, but right now, we are just celebrating this milestone."