Launch set for 2/27/08 – news from WW Partner Conference

In case you didn’t see the news out of Denver today:

[Kevin] Turner announced that Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 will launch together at an event in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 2008, kicking off hundreds of launch events around the world. 

This weekend I watched Boeing launch the new 787 Dreamliner on TV. The event was a little stiff compared to Microsoft standards (afterall, most of the 15,000 were wearing collars, ties and snappy dresses), but the launch had a global feel and influence, and my favorite TV news guy, Tom Brokaw, emceed. And the event concluded with the dramatic unveiling of the plane, which won’t make its debut flight until August or September.

Unlike the 787 Dreamliner, we’ll actually debut Windows Server 2008 before the February 2008 launch in LA. That’s the plan. As the CNET article correctly concluded, Windows Server 2008 is still scheduled to be released by the end of 2007. Pay no mind to Joe or other conspiracy theorists who apparently are blogging from a book depository and grassy knoll in Denver.

Since February 2008 has an extra day (it’s leap year), I wonder if we considered the launch event on Feb. 29 … that would’ve been something.

Patrick