NetworkWorld.com says SBS 2008: Same old bundle with new Vista wrapper

You didn’t hear it from me, NetworkWorld.com writes,

With network-attached storage devices selling for just a few hundred bucks per terabyte, and online service providers offering e-mail and full productivity applications for a few dollars per user per month, Microsoft’s Small Business Server 2008 is entering into a tougher market than its older siblings have had to endure.

Microsoft’s response? Let’s paint SBS 2008 with the Vista brush and focus more on features that target the external, Internet side of the bundle instead of the traditional internal file-server side.

Interesting. Indeed.

Included applications aren’t new, just upgraded. Exchange 2007 replaces Exchange 2003, and the same upgrade goes for SharePoint. Security applications like Live OneCare and Forefront Security for Exchange are trial versions, only good for three or four months. File server user access controls are the norm for Microsoft, meaning they still offer less granular user management than pre-Linux NetWare. The best addition to the bundle is a second server license, but the price increase means larger customers (up to 75 users are supported) will pay more, in many cases, than they did for SBS 2003.

Link to the article

Another view on Foundations vs SBS 2008

Sven Meirte blogged about his experience with Small Business Server 2008 and the event he attended.  Check out his blog posting, it provides a better understanding for consultants, so that they can provide complete viable solutions to their small business customers. Whether it be SBS or Foundations.

I will be shortly following with a blog posting on a eWeek article that outlines different messaging options available for customers as well.

P.S. Special thanks to Graham Dodge for keeping an eye on this space.