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Server 2008 Support Ends In 2015
Microsoft has extended support for Windows Server 2008 until 15 January 2015.
Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 operating system had been earmarked to enter the firm’s extended support phase on 9 July 2013, however the firm has moved that date back by 18 months. The firm said that it will keep Windows Server 2008 in the mainstream support phase until 15 January 2015.
Microsoft generally provides a decade of support for its high profile operating systems and software applications. The company said, “Microsoft policy provides a minimum of five years of Mainstream Support or two years of Mainstream Support after the successor product ships, whichever is longer.”
Of course Microsoft likes its customers to buy newer, shiner versions of its software whenever the firm releases it, but server operating systems customers are resistant to change in order to avoid any possible disruption in service availability. The company is desperately trying to get customers to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 and Windows 8, even though it extended support for the operating system until 8 APril 2014.
Can Intel Tablets Take Business Away From iPads?
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Tablets based on Intel’s first dedicated tablet processor may not be a smash hit among consumers like Apple’s iPad, but they could find much better acceptance within enterprises, analysts said this week.
Apple’s iPad is the ‘Golden Child’, but Intel’s Oak Trail processor could bring a fresh crop of tablets that are more closely aligned to security, software and hardware needs of businesses, analysts said. By supporting the Windows 7 OS, Oak Trail tablets will integrate better than the iPad into IT environments relying on Windows.
Tablets with Intel’s 1.5GHz Atom Z670 processor from Fujitsu and Motion Computing went on sale this month and will start shipping in June. Fujitsu is taking orders for the Stylistic Q550 Slate PC tablet, which is priced starting at US$729. Motion Computing is taking orders for the CL900 Tablet PC, which is priced starting at $899. The business tablets come with Microsoft’s Windows 7 OS and include solid-state drive storage. Intel has said 35 devices based on the Oak Trail chip will become available starting in May.
Apple may be spurring consumer tablet innovation, but computing needs are very different in the corporate world, said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. Outside the Apple ecosystem, there is a whole world of corporate applications and computing needs driven by Windows, Baker said.