Microsoft is offering an open beta version of its Windows Server 2003 for systems using the Advanced Micro Devices 64-bit Opteron processor. The beta version of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition for 64-Bit Extended Systems has been available to a small group of testers in a "technical beta" since October. With this release, the software is available to anyone interested in trying it out through a customer preview program, says John Borozan, a Microsoft product manager.
Microsoft expects tens of thousands of users to download the beta of the server software, which is unchanged since the release of the technical beta, Borozan says. Several hundred testers participated in the technical beta, he adds.
"A lot of customers are using Opteron with 32-bit Windows. The release of this beta is the first time they can tap the additional power of that hardware using 64-bit Windows," Borozan says.
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