Windows Server 2008 Multilingual User Interface Language Packs

Multilingual User Interface Language Packs (Windows Server® Language Packs) enable a multilingual user interface in a Windows Server® 2008 environment. Adding one or more language packs to a Windows Server® 2008 image enables one or more languages in the installed Windows Server® operating system, allowing corporations to deploy the same Windows Server® 2008 image worldwide while still providing localized user interfaces.

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2008

• x86 systems require 32-bit (x86) language packs
• x64 systems require amd64 (x64) language packs
• Itanium-based systems require Itanium (ia64) language packs

It can be downloaded here

Server Core could top Windows Server 2008 features

Server Core in Windows Server 2008 is being hailed by many as potentially the best feature of Microsoft's latest operating system. If you're unfamiliar still with Server Core and what it can provide, prepare yourself for this version of Windows, which arrives with no GUI, no support for many types of managed code and little more than a command-line prompt for console administration.
Even though the meat of the OS has changed quite a bit, the core of it remains relatively the same. This holds true for administering and maintaining your Server Core instances once they're installed.
Once you've installed Server Core on your machine and completed the initial configurations that bring it online, you'll need a set of command-line tools to install Roles or Role Services. As Server Core doesn't have any GUI support, those tools are all command-line based.
The main command-line tool you'll be using to install Roles and Role Services is not the same one you would use in the full version of the OS. For full versions of Windows Server 2008, Microsoft provides a command-line adjunct called servermanagercmd.exe that can manipulate the configuration and install/uninstall components as desired. That tool is easy to use and aligns with most of the functionality you get in the GUI form of Server Manager.
For Server Core, however, things are a little different. The servermanagercmd.exe tool is an executable that relies on managed code, and Server Core does not support that execution. So Microsoft had to create another version of the same tool that didn't have such needs. Why buy one when you can have two for twice the price?
In Server Core, there are actually two tools you'll use to list and install your Roles and Role Services. The first, oclist.exe, will list the possible Roles for the server as well as identify those which are currently installed.
 

Source: SearchWinit

Microsoft to patch Home Server corruption bug - in June

Microsoft Monday said its engineers were still "heads down working" on the data corruption bug that has plagued Windows Home Server since late last year, but acknowledged that a fix wouldn't be released until June at the earliest.
In a post to a company blog, the Windows Home Server (WHS) team said it had updated a support document to provide more information on the flaw -- even as it continued to downplay the threat. "We are aware of only a very small percentage of users with confirmed instances of this issue, and we believe that most people are unlikely to be affected," the team said.
The WHS developers, who also said that some claims of corrupted files had been traced to other causes, spelled out a rough timeline for a patch. "Our current plan is to release beta test versions of a fix over the next few months, with a final version currently estimated for June 2008, although that date could change as testing progresses," the programmers said.
Before Monday's update, the last time the WHS group had refreshed the support document outlining the flaw was nearly three weeks ago, when it expanded the list of programs that could damage data.
WHS's data corruption problems go back to December 2007, when Microsoft confirmed that editing a document, image or e-mail stored on the server could corrupt the file, effectively destroying the data. Since then, WHS product managers have struggled to pin down the bug, saying in December that it cropped up only when the server was under an "extreme load" as it copied large files. They recanted that explanation just weeks later.
According to Monday's post, however, the team now knows what's going on. "We understand the issue really well at this point -- it is at an extremely low level of the operating system and it requires thorough testing to ensure that the fix addresses the issue."
In the revised support document, Microsoft went into greater detail about the cause of the data corruption flaw. "A bug has been discovered in the way that Windows Home Server manages file transfer and balancing across multiple hard drives," said the document. "In certain cases, depending on application use patterns, timing, and the workload that is placed on the Windows Home Server-based computer, certain files may become corrupted."
The bug is in the redirection mechanism that WHS uses when writing data to more than one disk drive. By Microsoft's analysis, that can cause the Windows file system, as well as its Memory Manager and Cache Manager, to get out of sync, which in turn results in corrupted data being written to files.
The support document also included more specific advice for WHS users. "Do not use applications to directly edit or change files that are stored on the Windows Home Server-based computer," Microsoft recommended. "As a precautionary measure, users should use Windows Explorer or a command-line tool to copy files to and from the Windows Home Server-based computer."
Other tips included setting the Shared Folders on a WHS machine to "read-only"; not using media software such as Windows Media Player to import files to the server; and avoiding redirecting applications to access files stored in Shared Folders.
"Developing a fix for this issue is the highest priority for the team right now," said a company spokesman in an e-mail Monday.

 

Source- Computerworld

Windows Server 2008 is 20% faster than Vista

It seems Microsoft may have a successor (or replacement) for Vista after all and it's already been released. Windows Server 2008 isn't easy to configure as a desktop operating system but when done correctly can be 20% faster than Vista while retaining most of the same features.Windows Workstation 2008 has all the patches and fixes that are present in Vista SP1; runs all the same software but does it faster. InformationWeek calls Windows Workstation 2008 the "speediest and most secure version of Windows to come along in a decade."
Windows Workstation 2008 is not a product sold by Microsoft and must be configured from a copy of Windows Server 2008. It seems this version of Windows lacks the "bloat" that is part of Vista. However, I am not sure what the author is referring to (but is likely talking about unnecessary services).
Of course this version of Windows was designed with developers in mind who covet speed above all else. Workstation 2008 includes IIS and Hyper-V for creating virtual machines.
A Microsoft employee and third party website have created tutorials on how to use Windows Server 2008 as a desktop operating system. This is what I've been referring to as Windows Workstation 2008. Keep in mind that this will have the same driver problems as Vista does, meaning, if a Vista driver doesn't exist for a piece of hardware you still won't be able to use it with Server or Workstation 2008.
News Source: BLORGE.com

Windows Server 2008 Multilingual User Interface Language Packs

Multilingual User Interface Language Packs (Windows Server® Language Packs) enable a multilingual user interface in a Windows Server® 2008 environment. Adding one or more language packs to a Windows Server® 2008 image enables one or more languages in the installed Windows Server® operating system, allowing corporations to deploy the same Windows Server® 2008 image worldwide while still providing localized user interfaces.

Each language pack is a .cab file. The language pack .cab files are grouped into .img image download files. Following are the contents of the .img image download files:
32-bit (x86) Language Packs
• Group 1 (English, German, Japanese, French, Spanish)

o File name: 6001.18000.080118-1840_x86fre_Server_LP_1-KRMSLP1_DVD.img

• Group 2 (Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil))

o File name: 6001.18000.080118-1840_x86fre_Server_LP_2-KRMSLP2_DVD.img

• Group 3 (Italian, Russian, Portuguese (Portugal), Dutch, Swedish)

o File name: 6001.18000.080118-1840_x86fre_Server_LP_4-KRMSLP4_DVD.img

amd64 (x64) Language Packs
• Group 1 (English, German, Japanese, French, Spanish)

o File name: 6001.18000.080118-1840_amd64fre_Server_LP_1-KRMSLPX1_DVD.img

• Group 2 (Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil))

o File name: 6001.18000.080118-1840_amd64fre_Server_LP_2-KRMSLPX2_DVD.img

• Group 3 (Italian, Russian, Portuguese (Portugal), Dutch, Swedish)

o File name: 6001.18000.080118-1840_amd64fre_Server_LP_4-KRMSLPX4_DVD.img

Itanium (ia64) Language Packs
• Group 1 (English, German, Japanese, French)

o File name: 60016001.18000.080118-1840_ia64fre_Server_LP_1-KRMIALPI1_DVD.img

• Group 2 (Chinese Simplified, Korean)

o File name: 6001.18000.080118-1840_ia64fre_Server_LP_2-KRMIALPI2_DVD.img

 

Source: www.microsoft.com