Late Friday, Microsoft made the Gold, or RTM, code for Windows Server 2003 available to MSDN subscribers and beta testers. MSDN Universal and Professional subscribers now have download access to Windows Server 2003 Web, Standard, Enterprise, and Enterprise 64-Bit editions, as well as System Resource Manager and a customer support and diagnostic toolset. Windows Server 2003 beta testers received access to 180-day time-limited versions of the final code; the editions they received depend on which editions they tested during the beta. Microsoft said that beta testers will not receive a retail copy of the final code, as is typically the case with the company's server beta programs.
"The Windows ... more

REDMOND, Wash. -- March 28, 2003 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced it has released Windows® Server 2003 to manufacturing. The company's best-performing, highest-quality Windows server operating system released to date, Windows Server 2003 delivers an integrated server platform that enables customers to run their IT infrastructure up to 30 percent more efficiently. By completing a rigorous new testing program including a thorough line-by-line code audit, Windows Server 2003 incorporates innovative new security and reliability features that ensure the product is more secure by design. The new server platform is already receiving widespread partner support and customer interest worldwide: ... more

Well RTM was postponed a couple of times, the last time the deadline was set to March 28 and that's today! Build 3790 is the latest build that is being tested and no bad news till now, so this should be it. Question is if MS will round up the build number? We'll see today.
Cnet reports that MS is "expected to announce on Friday that Windows Server 2003 has completed testing and been certified final, or gold, code."



RTM Announcement 9 am Pacific Time screenshots for 3790 viewing pleasure: screen 1 scr ... more

Winbeta posted a nice guide on some features on Windows 2003, it does not go in deep but it gives a nice overview.



winbeta also posted 3788 screenies: WinBeta.Org - 3788 Touches Down in Windows Server 2003 EscrowView : Windows 2003 Server New Feature Guide & Review
View : 3788 screenshots ... more

Winxp.Bink.nu post: This week build 3784 began in ESCROW phase, will this be the golden build? Who knows, they even may decide for on lower build. We'll see soon the RTM deadline is still set on March 19th. unconfirmed rumor, 3785 is now escrow ."Escrow" is a stage of completion in a new product were the anticipated final code is sent for a period of 15 days to do 'Final Testing', and if no 'Showstoppers', or bugs are found in this time period, the code in escrow becomes final.

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REDMOND, Wash. -- March 12, 2003 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced it will deliver Internet SCSI (iSCSI) support for Windows?client and server environments in June. Microsoft's iSCSI software driver will be provided via Web download at no charge for Microsoft?Windows 2000 client and server versions, Windows XP client, and the forthcoming Windows Server 2003 family of products. iSCSI, as recently ratified by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), will provide a lower-cost option for customers that require high levels of performance and reliability for their planned storage area network (SAN) implementations. According to Gartner Dataquest,* by 2006 iSCSI will emerge to connect nearly 1. ... more

Windows Server 2003 Build 3771, built and leaked recently was originally intended for Escrow and RTM, but did not make the cut. A small flaw was found and the Microsoft development team together with JDP's decided to give it all a few more days (builds). Current build to be targeted for Escrow is build 3780, finished this morning.
Since early this year "March 12, 2003" has been the date targeted as "RTM day" for Windows Server 2003, meaning that the code "on hand" that day really is delivered to manufacturing. Last week it was decided to postpone RTM and give the development and test-teams another week. The new RTM date for Windows Server 2003 is March 19, 2003. This will not delay ... more

Committed as ever to serving you the very best releases, in as convenient a form as we can, we serve up a double header for you!

Windows Server 2003 3771 is the latest rtm escrow build, and here it is! Switching our feature set for this build, we now offer an image builder for each version of 3771. What does that mean? Launch the image builder as shown below, and create a cd image (ISO) of the build you want... From WinBeta:
What is the meaning of RTM Preview you ask?
This release is based on build 3771 Enterprise Edition. Which Microsoft has released to OEM's and perhaps a few other close Microsoft Partners for testing. The orignal release contai ... more

I have just completed my simple guide of how you can easily transform the latest Windows Server 2003 into a desktop type OS. Many people are using it either for Beta testing or via CPP (Customer Preview Program) and well it is quite a good stable OS built on where XP left off and beyond. If you run Windows Server 2003 and can't get Audio or OpenGL working this is the guide for you, also an easy post-install reference.
So Windows 2003 Professional turned out to be a pipe dream, faster than we could get used to the idea being a reality it was played down/denied by Microsoft and all the knowledge base articles were removed to be corrected. It turned out to be an oversight. Well, we aren't one ... more

The release to manufacture date for the seven flavours of Microsoft's latest server operating system means gold code should be just weeks away.



Microsoft has set 12 March as the release to manufacture date for the six new versions of its server operating system, paving the way for a shipping date of 29 April.
The six versions of Windows Server 2003 due to launch in April will be followed by a seventh, called Windows Small Business Server 2003, due late summer, said Mark Tennant, Microsoft's Windows servers product marketing manager, speaking to ZDNet UK. Microsoft's revamp of its server operating system range, which lost the .Net moniker recently following several previous na ... more