In a conference call with the media on Friday morning, a giddy Bill Veghte, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows Server division, announced: "Today Windows Server 2003 was released to manufacturing. It is done." But the product has been a long time coming. From conception to release of final code, Windows Server 2003 has seen four different names and four release dates. In October 2000, Microsoft said the product would ship in the second half of 2001. But in April 2001, it pushed back delivery of the product to early 2002. In March 2002, the software giant again delayed delivery until the second half of the year. In November, the company delayed delivery for a third time, setting an April launch date. Microsoft's increased emphasis on security -- set off by a January 2001 memo from chairman Bill Gates -- contributed to the product delays. Veghte said that Windows Server 2003 was "designed and built with enhanced security as a top priority." Microsoft spent more than $200m (£126.5m) in research and development on security, he added. Microsoft spoke of massive amounts of interest in Windows Server 2003. Veghte described a public beta, or test, program involving the software as "the most significant customer preview program Microsoft has ever had." About 561,000 people signed up for the software, more than double the preview for Windows XP. Veghte did not say whether that figure overlapped with Office 2003 Beta 2. The 15-CD Office 2003 kit includes the Windows Server 2003 beta. With Friday's release to manufacturers, Windows Server 2003 extends to seven different versions. The main ones are Datacentre, for top-end machines with dozens of processors and high reliability requirements; Enterprise Server, for more mainstream multiprocessor servers; Standard Server, for low-end servers; and a new Web Server for low-end machines used to send Web pages to Internet browsers. Microsoft plans to release a fifth product, Windows Small Business Server 2003, in the third quarter. Also available: 64-bit versions of Datacentre and Enterprise versions for Itanium processors. As Microsoft prepares for the launch event, work continues on an array of Windows Server 2003 components that are shipping late. They include: Greenwich, Microsoft's new business-class instant messaging technology; Group Policy Management Console; collaboration tool Windows Team Services; security enhancement Windows Rights Management Services (RMS); and Windows Systems Resource Manager (WSRM), among others. Windows Team Services and Group Policy Management Console are expected to be among the first pieces to arrive. On Friday, Veghte said to expect the late components to ship "60 to 120 days after this milestone," referring to the Windows Server 2003 release to manufacturers. During the media conference call, Veghte dodged questions about Microsoft's next major operating system releases -- Longhorn, the successor to Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 follow-up Blackcomb. "We're starting to flesh out what the next releases look like," Veghte said, deferring any other comments until after a planned Friday celebration regarding the release to manufacturers. In the meantime, work continues on the next service pack, or collection of bug fixes, for Windows XP. On Thursday, a new build of Windows XP Service Pack 2 leaked out of Microsoft. Another, earlier version leaked out on 28 Feb. CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos contributed to this report.
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