Microsoft ramps OS attack - .Net Server RC1 signals drive to overcome enterprise changes.(Microsoft Windows .Net Server RC1)

DETERMINED TO BOOST its credibility in the enterprise datacenter, Microsoft has launched Windows .Net Server RC1 (Release Candidate 1) amid efforts to unify its various .Net servers around XML and drive value into its operating systems.

Illustrating its focus on developing a server platform capable of luring enterprises away from Unix systems, the company announced this week at a .Net briefing that future capabilities, including the Greenwich Real Time Communications server, that will be available in the first half of 2003. Supported by services contained within Messenger, Greenwich is designed to extend the present features of .Net to offer better user collaboration scenarios. Microsoft executives indicated Greenwich's collaborative services could replace the file system functions in .Net.

Whether the upcoming OS has the necessary firepower to compete against Unix …