{"id":17698,"date":"2015-02-02T12:44:53","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T12:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=17698"},"modified":"2015-02-02T12:54:37","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T12:54:37","slug":"release-of-windows-server-is-not-until-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=17698","title":{"rendered":"Release Of Windows Server Is Not Until 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

I, like everyone else, have no idea what Microsoft\u2019s plans are for release dates. And, BTW, I\u2019ve cared less and less about System Center since the 2012 SP1 release, mainly thanks to Microsoft changing the licensing of System Center back then and killing sales completely in my market. I also have no inside information on System Center. I make guesses based on stages of development cycle, news, rumours, and past practices, etc. But I was damned sure that Microsoft was going to RTM Windows Server<\/a> vNext in Q3 (July-Sept) 2015. I did think that GA was going to be after the GA of Windows 10, allowing the client OS to get some headlines by itself. But looking back, I forgot one thing, which I\u2019ll get to and should have been obvious all along.<\/p>\n

The news<\/a> that broke last week (I was on the road) that \u201cWindows Server and System Center\u201d were not going to come out until 2016 really surprised me. I\u2019ve seen some speculation on Twitter that \u201cissues\u201d in Windows Server are delaying the release. That is QUITE a jump in logic. I would remind everyone to take a look at the announcement again \u2026 <\/p>\n

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We\u2019d also like to share a little more on what to expect from Windows Server and System Center this year. As we continue to advance the development of these products, we plan to release further previews through the remainder of 2015, with the final release in 2016.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2026 \u201cWindows Server and System Center<\/u>\u201d<\/em>. Isn\u2019t it interesting that none of the speculators has mentioned System Center and assumed that \u201cbugs\u201d in Windows Server is the cause of this relatively late release for Windows Server?<\/p>\n

Only on one occasion in the history of System Center<\/a> (including previous to the System Center label) has System Center been released at the same time as Windows Server; that was with the last release (2012 R2) and even then, some customers were unhappy that System Center was not on feature parity with Hyper-V<\/a> and Windows Server (storage and networking) – they still aren\u2019t BTW. Can System Center catch up with Windows Server by Q3 of this year? Hmm \u2026. let\u2019s see how much Microsoft has already announced<\/a> in the cloud aspects of Windows Server vNext. That\u2019s quite a bit of work accomplished by the Server group, right? I don\u2019t think System Center could catch up in such a tight time frame. Remember, they don\u2019t just have to keep up, but they have to add value.<\/p>\n

So why can\u2019t Microsoft release Windows Server ahead of System Center like they have done before? There\u2019s three aspects to this:<\/p>\n