SBS 2008 RTM a Deal and a Free Exam!

So I was off last week and just went through my email and my RSS feeds and found three things related to SBS 2008 that might be of interest.  First off, SBS 2008 has been released to manufacture.  Now there is a lot that is different in SBS 2008 but a lot that is the same.  I'm working on getting this information together to fill you in on the details but you can find out more at the SBS 2008 portal now.

Now if you are about to buy and/or sell SBS 2003 R2 there is an offer you should know about.  First off be sure you are buying SBS 2003 R2 (either edition) with Software Assurance (aka SA) as this will give you the upgrade rights to the same edition of SBS 2008 when it becomes available through the regular channels.  This is going to cost roughly $100-200 more but to offset this there is a $100-200 rebate (again depending which version you purchase) that is available to cover that additional cost.  You can find out more here https://sbsrebate.com/home.aspx  It should be noted that there will be a price increase for SBS 2008 so you might want to take advantage of this before the October 31st 2008 deadline.

Lastly I was catching up on Philip Elder's blog (one of my favourite Candian SBS bloggers) and saw that there is a free beta exam offer on for the 71-653: TS Windows Small Business Server 2008 Configuring going on.  You can get the code in his post on the subject here https://blog.mpecsinc.ca/2008/08/sbs-2008-free-beta-exam-71-653-until.html