Cougar Roaring Back in the News

Well it appears that the new release for SBS "Cougar" is now 2007 after Vista and Longhorn Server ship according to this CRN article.

Well some points to take a look at:
1. R2 will include automatic RPC over HTTP configuration. That's a great plus for small businesses. Right now RPC over HTTP is a great item but there are still some lingering problems with setup and how to do it right. Also, configuration is still manual and in just about every network we've taken over support for RPC over HTTP for Exchange/Outlook was never configured for the clients.
2. Cougar will include better support for extranet solutions. A great leap forward! Right now small businesses want to act like the big boys and give out information to their clients, however currently with the limitations of Sharepoint Services you can only give them authenticated access by using an SBS license and as we know there are only 75 of them in SBS.
3. Better LOB application support especially for Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS). This is a big YES! Right now one of the most frustrating things is trying to get Microsoft CRM properly installed on SBS and keep it that way. There are tons of failed installs and problems that seem to creep up everyday on the msg boards about how to do it right. The MSCRM_SMB Yahoo Group has been a nice resource to keep up with these items. Started by MS MVP for CRM Scott Colson who does an admirable job of keeping us informed on the latest updates/changes.

Also, things like Microsoft RMS and other MBS apps can definitely use a better way of integration or even having a "shared parts" administration that could integrate all the administration of these items with the SBS items.

Well both these release sound great. I agree that perhaps it'll be hard for SBS 2003 installations to justify upgrading to R2 if it doesn't meet their needs. But 2007 should be a no brainer.

So what should a Small Business do? Definitely if you're thinking about SBS right now go with Open Value and get the 3 years of software assurance. You'll get all these updates plus a whole lot more included with the price. A nice thing indeed.

So....ya ready for Cougar? Let it Roar and bring it on I say.