Exchange Service 2007 Pack 1 Beta 2 is now available through MSDN and Technet Plus Subscription. Jeremy Kirk from Computerworld writes that it is scheduled for release at the last quarter this year.

I was about to upgrade our Exchange 2003 server last month. But then I decided to wait until we have new hardware. Now, I think, I will wait till Microsoft gives us a release date for Exchange 2007 SP1.

It wouldn’t be a big deal to install this service pack after we upgraded since we only have one server. However, messing around with an e-mail server is always a bit awkward. If something goes wrong during the service pack installation, you will easily break into a sweat. So it makes more sense to install Exchange 2007 on a new server, wait for SP1, and then transfer the mailboxes and public folders.

I wouldn’t wait just because of the new features of Exchange 2007 SP1, though:

  • Windows Server 2008 support
  • Standby continuous replication
  • Better integration with Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007
  • Exchange ActiveSync Policies

A more detailed discussion of the new features can be found at Computerworld and BetaNews.

It is interesting to note that Microsoft already deployed Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 2. How lucky that I am not an Exchange admin or developer at Microsoft, considering that they host 60,000 user mailboxes with beta software now.

There is one sentence in the BetaNews article I find a bit odd:

ES 2007 was the first edition that could be set up to provide users with an Outlook-like e-mail and communications environment from within any Web browser, rather than through the Office Outlook client.

Similar sentences have been written when Exchange 5.5, Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 came out. You always hear, Outlook Web Access (OWA) is now almost like Outlook. It certainly depends on what you mean with “almost” or “Outlook-like”. In my view, apps running in a web browser will never be a replacement for desktop programs.

This, I think, can be learned from the history of OWA. If I remember it right, then Ajax was first introduced with OWA in Exchange 2000. After so many years desktop apps still dominate the software world. Exchange 2007 won’t change much about this, I suppose.

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