Microsoft will tag its next server software, now codenamed Longhorn, with the prosaic "Windows Server 2007," according to a document on the company's site.
Dutch MVP (Microsoft Most Valued Professional) Steven Bink noticed the document on MSDN, the Microsoft Developers Network, today, and posted a link to it on his Web site. Titled "Hosting and Consuming WCF Services" and written by Dennis Mulder and Chris Peiris, both employees of IT consultancy Avanade, the piece uses "Windows Server 2007" numerous times as the nameplate for the next-generation server.
The software, still stuck with the Longhorn Server name, is due out before the end of the year, Microsoft has said. The newest version, Beta 3, was unveiled just last week.
Mulder and Peris, who did not respond to e-mails asking for comment, posted their Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) paper to the MSDN site last month. Reports earlier in the year had claimed Windows Server 2007 would be the software's official name, although some, anticipating a late-year release, said it would debut as Windows Server 2008.
When asked to confirm or deny the name choice, a Microsoft spokeswoman said: "We have not yet confirmed the naming for Windows Server 'Longhorn,' despite what the Windows Vista technical article stated. I discourage you from using any naming information until Microsoft makes a public announcement."
Other clues to the final name -- and possibly its release date -- can be found on Amazon.com, the online retailer. A search using "windows server 2007" brings up several books with that phrase in their titles. The books, which are to be released by McGraw-Hill Osborne on Nov. 10, include Windows Server 2007 Administration and Microsoft Windows Server 2007: The Complete Reference.
Late last year, Bob Muglia, senior vice president of Microsoft's server and tools division, said that the company would name the software when it released Beta 3.