back to article Windows Server and System Centre 2016 get fourth previews

Microsoft's popped out the fourth Technical Previews of Windows Server 2016 and System Centre 2016. The headline item in Windows Server is Hyper-V containers, Microsoft's “container-optimised” version of its Hyper-V hypervisor. Like others, Redmond's decided that there are occasions on which you'll want containers to run under …

  1. Bronek Kozicki

    Thanks for the tip

    I've already tested O&O ShutUp10 with Windows 10 (on test device) and it seems to work nicely, now I only have to wait until the OS is stable enough. I will know this has happened when they release Windows Server 2016 ; this would mean they decided that parts of its codebase shared with Windows 10 are finally mature.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Thanks for the tip

      Windows 10 is already very stable - with the latest feature update I would have no issues with deploying it in an enterprise environment, and we are already piloting it.

      Windows Server historically has been stable / useable from the point of release with no need to wait for the first update as has sometimes been the case on the desktop! However I wouldn't say that Server 2016 RTM in anyway defined the readiness of Windows 10 - which is already on well over 100 million desktops.

      Back on topic - I note loads of integration / functionality / TCO reasons to use Windows Server instead of a zoo of OSS solutions in this release - particularly on hybrid cloud and large datacentre estates. Looks like we can also potentially ditch lots of our legacy load balancing and firewall solutions...

      Imagine - a few clicks on a GUI and an Active Directory based SDN or firewall policy can be updated in a few minutes on every firewall / network devices / load balancer with no manual activity required. Like the days of ISA server, but they have gone back to the drawing board and provided a better enterprise class solution. This is what all of Azure already runs on by the way!

      Full "what's new" blurb here: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn765472.aspx

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Thanks for the tip

        "reasons to use Windows Server instead of a zoo of OSS solutions in this release"

        Rather have a zoo of OSS than a dog !

  2. Joerg

    ????

    "Satya Nadella's Microsoft is very keen on feedback and consultation" WHAT ? In which reality ? Do you write and live in another verse, perhaps?

    Windows8.2=10 is a scam. Full of spyware. The Metro/ModernUI childish unusable mess is still there and the start menu is a silly pathetic joke.

    1. Chika
      Devil

      Re: ????

      Windows8.2=10 is a scam. Full of spyware. The Metro/ModernUI childish unusable mess is still there and the start menu is a silly pathetic joke.

      Heard it all before. Yes, W10 is not what we wanted but it isn't quite as bad as that! The "spyware" aspect isn't that bad (though it isn't good either) and much of it can be overcome while the whole business of the start menu can be avoided with the use of a replacement such as Classic Shell or similar.

      Just trying out W2K16 TP4 right now. To be honest, the front end is a bit like a cross between W2K12 and W10, and the system unfortunately has a lot of the problems that Windows 10 is often called out for including the telemetry and the forced update regime (not something that I'd be happy about if I were a sysadmin, to be honest) but it's hardly a finished product so I'm just going to play with it and see what it can do.

      With the Windows Update service switched off, of course!

  3. W. Anderson

    pertinent details?

    It would have been beneficial if Simon Sharwood had indicated principal differences - benefits, disadvantages, similarities - between Microsoft Hyper-V "containerization" and the wildly popular and successful "Docker" Containerization that every other Virtualization and Cloud Computing vendor is enthusiastically supporting.

    It appears that most of the article is basically marketing propaganda from Microsoft, unstead of close, expert and semi-objective scrutiny.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: pertinent details?

      Microsoft has had containerisation for many years via App-V with advanced features like on demand streaming.

      The new Hyper-V containerisation option is for lightweight VMs, and Microsoft are also introducing a midrange application isolation option similar to Docker.

      Docker will support a unified container format that Microsoft are working on, so you will be able to port your Wintel containers into Azure just like you can with legacy *NIX OS support on Azure via Docker using a single file format.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: pertinent details?

        What about those of us using a recent *NIX rather than an legacy one? Can we use Azure too?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: pertinent details?

          "What about those of us using a recent *NIX rather than an legacy one? Can we use Azure too?"

          Of course you can - until, that is , MS drop support

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: pertinent details?

          "What about those of us using a recent *NIX rather than an legacy one"

          Havn't seen one of those yet - has someone finally made a modern *NIX OS with a proper config store now instead of those non-scalable flat text files (that you cant even granularly audit changes or control access to specific settings on) then?

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