Today SBS 2008 was RTM’d – aka Release To Manufacturing. This means it’s done, baked ready to come out of the oven and onto the production lines as CD’s. It’s been a long beta for this product and finally it’s done!
This direct from Microsoft…
We are very excited to announce the RTM of Small Business Server 2008 today! This is a huge milestone for the team here, as well as all of you who have played a pivotal role in providing feedback on this product. We on the product team want to say “THANK YOU!” for the hours you’ve spent installing builds, discussing issues on the newsgroups, and filing all of those bugs we love! The SBS Community CANNOT be topped, and this release is just another example of that!
Cassie Hicks and Dean Paron
Windows Small Business Server 2008
They also say in other reports that product should be in the channel in Early to Mid October, so keep an eye out so you can get the final bits and begin to install for your clients. Unlike older versions of SBS, the process to move from Trial build to full version is dead simple, just enter the license key and CALs and you are done. No need to reinstall the product over the top of the existing system (something I always considered risky personally).
Congrats to the SBS team for getting this one out the door. Now to wait for EBS which I’m sure can’t be all that far behind it 😉
When will the bits be released via MSDN? Usually when things get RTM, they are released within the week via MSDN.