Confidential Microsoft Certified Partner Announcement: Name Change for Windows .NET Server 2003

Name Change for Windows .NET Server 2003

Microsoft Certified Partner Announcement

**CONFIDENTIAL - To Microsoft Certified Partners and Microsoft Gold Certified Partners, to be kept under NDA until 1/9/2003**

Applicable To: All NDA Partners Worldwide

Summary:
The product name Microsoft(R) Windows(R) .NET Server 2003 will be changing to Windows Server 2003. Microsoft is making an effort to clarify the naming and branding strategy for .NET. As support for Web services becomes intrinsic across our entire product line, we are moving toward a consistent naming and branding strategy to better enable partners to affiliate with this strategy and customers to identify .NET-enabled products. The first product to be affected is Windows .NET Server 2003. The new name for the next version of Windows is Windows Server 2003. This information still needs to be treated confidential under NDA and will not be public until Thursday, January 9, 2003. This will not affect our time frame for launch, which is still planned for April 2003.

Details:

* We are pursuing an overall effort to clarify the naming and branding strategy around .NET. As support for Web services becomes intrinsic across our entire product line, we are moving toward a consistent naming and branding strategy to better enable partners to affiliate with this strategy and customers to identify .NET-enabled products.

* The next version of Windows Server will be formally called Windows Server 2003. The reason for this is to simplify the product's naming and reconcile it with our branding strategy for .NET.

* Windows Server 2003 will carry the "Microsoft .NET Connected" logo indicating its ability to easily and consistently connect disparate information, systems, and devices to meet customers' people and business needs (regardless of underlying platform or programming language). This logo is also available to our partners building solutions on the Microsoft platform to help customers identify solutions and products that support standards-based interoperability.

* The more complete integration of .NET Web services and products is one of several major enhancements in Windows Server 2003 -- all aimed at providing a highly connected, productive, and dependable infrastructure with excellent economic value for our customers.

Questions & Answers:

Q) Why the name change?
A) In response to customer and partner feedback to provide clarity around our .NET strategy and programs. Specifically, we are moving toward a branding approach where ".NET Connected" is the way we communicate our products (and our partners' products) that enable customers to easily and consistently connect disparate information, systems, and devices to meet their people and business needs, regardless of underlying platform or programming languages.

Q) Why make this change now?
A) Product naming, features, etc. are never final until the product ships -- this is both in response to customer feedback as well as part of a larger effort to provide clarity for customers and partners interested in affiliating with and benefiting from Microsoft .NET.

Q) What changes technically in the Windows Server product as a result of this name change?
A) There are no feature changes in the product. This is a naming change, and does not affect the functionality of the product in any way.

Q) Will this cause a slip in the Windows Server 2003 product schedule?
A) No -- we remain on track for a worldwide launch of Windows Server 2003 in April 2003.

Q) Is this an indication that Microsoft is backing away from .NET?
A) Quite the opposite -- Windows Server 2003 is a major step forward in our effort to provide a highly connected, productive, and dependable infrastructure with excellent economic value for our customers. Windows Server 2003, with integration of the Microsoft .NET Framework, UDDI services, and other XML Web services support has set the industry bar for Web service development and performance -- combined with the new security, scalability, and performance of Windows Server 2003 and we are delivering a platform optimized for the next generation of enterprise computing.

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