The new version of Windows Server will feature improvements in its hosting capabilities that end users can tap into remotely from a variety of client devices.

Closely following the company's public preview of Windows 8, Microsoft has released a beta version of its Windows Server 8 operating system.

Hailed as one of Microsoft's broadest, deepest releases, Windows Server 8 will replace the current version of the OS, Windows Server 2008, in 2012 about the same time the new companion desktop OS, Windows 8, is released. Microsoft has a broad set of goals to reach with this release, such as cloud compatibility and automation of routine tasks across multiple machines. The new release also benefits from Microsoft's work building out its own Azure cloud service. Many technologies developed for the server were tested in the cloud, and many technologies developed for Azure were then imported back to the server.

Microsoft claims 300 new and improved features in Windows Server 8, but after a few days in Redmond watching demos and stepping through lab sessions, we wonder whether the marketing guys accidentally left off a zero. It's hard to name a Windows Server feature that hasn't been tweaked, streamlined, wizardized, or completely revamped. Whatever grudge you may hold against Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 8 will almost certainly make amends.

While Microsoft is embracing the ARM processor architecture for its next Windows client operating system, Windows 8, the company has no immediate plans to develop an ARM-based version of its next Windows Server, the company executive in charge of Windows Server confirmed Wednesday.

One day after Microsoft launched the first beta of the next generation of its Windows desktop operating system, Windows 8, the company previewed the next version of its server operating system, Windows Server 8.

The Future is NOW, according to Microsoft Australia. And that was the tag it gave its annual IT education forum, Tech.Ed 2011, on the Gold Coast.

Microsoft has added support for another Linux server distribution with its Hyper-V virtualization software, its latest move to compete better with virtualization market leader VMware.