Fat Free Windows Server Takes Aim at Linux
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has indicated to investors that Microsoft is preparing to release a low-cost, low-end version of Windows Server with stripped functionality.
The new Windows Server SKU is designed to capitalize on the ever increasing demand for basic computer functionality, which has been introduced into the market along with the netbook craze. Ballmer noted that Microsoft has a relatively small share of the hosting market where the Linux platform prevails heavily and suggested that the new ‘Foundation Server’ will be an attempt to grab server market share away from Linux.
Quoting Ballmer:
“So we have something that’s akin to netbook at the server, and we’ll be introducing our Foundation Edition over the next month or two.”
Ballmer also mentions that the Foundation Server announcement is quite interesting as well as the analogy to the netbook platform, stating that it is “yet another scenario where (a), Linux has made a serious inroads and (b), Microsoft sells a version of Windows for less than the usual price.” Some feel that Foundation Server could pose a risk and actually drive server prices down or that Foundation Server is a reaction to the recession.
The new low-cost Foundation Server will also provide benefit to the virtualization side of computing. With the availability of a lower cost version of Windows Server we may see increased usage of server virtualization. The decision to release the lower cost Foundation Edition could also be a tactical move by Microsoft that fits well with the recent virtualization agreement between itself and Redhat.

they are capable of anything windows can do.....i am running an ubuntu server at home with Samba, ftp, dns, mail server, vpn, the WORKS!
i would not trade it for a paid version of Micro$oft......i am also a network administrator and all we use is microsoft....they both have their good points and bad, but linux is free and thats why i use it at home.
not .net based web services and asp.net which a windows developers use.
Sounds like a rebranding of Windows PE for retailers.
linux has their equivalents either out right now or in the works
mono is not .net, you just can't take a asp.net website or webservice and run it with mono.
there is java, ect alternatives, but they are not .net
Here's the real story behind it.
Windows 2008 Server is rather complex, even their core model is too put together. The truth is Microsoft is stripping 2008 Server down to enable CPANEL to take over the operating system.
Linux is great because CPANEL ultimately plugs right into free linux distributions! eg. CentOS4
If Microsoft can merge their immpresive kernel into a CPANEL setup I'd say Linux will go down the drain so long as cPANEL works the same.
If you have a datacenter license for your esx server, you don't pay extra for the individual virtual servers, so there's not much in actual savings if virtualization is the goal. But I suppose it could come in handy for cheap file or web hosting servers and the like.
This looks like a joke to me. Stripped functionality? How is that even a logical selling point? Linux even in its basic form has 100 times the functionality of any M$ product not to mention taking less resources. .NET? Hardly necessary unless like stated above you are a Windows based software designer. Linux is always offered free no matter what distribution it is. It has to be under the Open-Source licence. It is the service you pay for, which is still cheaper than using Windows.
That linux is always a cheaper choice, while common, is false. The actual software ofcourse is cheaper than microsoft's, but the overall cost isn't nessecarily a selling point. In the company where I work, it would increase running costs by a considerable margin if we were to replace all our windows servers, or desktops, with linux. Also we'd have to work a lot harder to make it a secure platform.
A stripped windows isn't the point of this article. The point is a stripped price