Windows Server 2003

The successor to Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 (codename Whistler Server, also known as Windows NT 5.2) is a step in the evolution of Microsoft's server operating systems.

Related Topics:
Windows 2000 Server - Codename - Microsoft's - Server - Operating system

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Windows 2003, released on April 24, 2003, takes Windows 2000 Server, and brings compatibility and other features from Windows XP. Unlike Windows 2000 Server, 2003 boots up with none of the server components turned on, to reduce the attack vectors for new install. Also Windows 2003 includes compatibility modes to allow older code to run with more stability. It also includes enhancements to various services such as the IIS web server. In particular it was made more compatible with NT 4 domain based networking. Incorporating and upgrading an NT 4 domain to Windows 2000 was considered difficult and time consuming, and generally was considered an all or nothing upgrade particularly when dealing with Active Directory. Windows 2003 brought in enhanced Active Directory compatibility, and better deployment support, to ease the transition from NT 4 to Windows 2003 and XP.

Related Topics:
Windows XP - IIS - Web server - NT 4 domain - Active Directory

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Initially, the product was to be called "Windows .NET Server 2003," to promote the integrated enterprise framework .NET. In this improved Microsoft server, performance of ASP.NET (the successor of Active Server Pages) has improved and integration is tighter.

Related Topics:
.NET - ASP.NET - Active Server Pages

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However, due to fears of confusing the market about what ".NET" represents and responding to criticism, Microsoft removed .NET from the name. This allowed the name .NET to exclusively apply to the .NET framework, as previously it had appeared that .NET was just a tag for a generation of Microsoft products.

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Microsoft launched the new product on April 24, 2003.

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