This just in from The Register:
There will be no price increases (as such) when Microsoft ships its next server OS, Windows Server 2003, on April 24th, but there will be a new budget-priced version of the product aimed squarely at the web server market. Server 2003 Web Edition comes without client access licences, with a 2gig limit on memory, 2-way SMP, and is $399.
Head over to Microsoft’s Windows Server 2003 comparison chart to see exactly what you’re getting for $399. Look at all the empty circles. The $399 is a hard sell to web hosts and ISPs who can put Linux on there for free. I think that the pricing for this is just above the sweet spot, but not by too much. For example, an unlimited domain copy of Ensim that runs on top of Red Hat 7.2 will run you $399, but there are 30 and 300 domain versions available for $199 and $299.
I’m quite curious to see how well Windows Server 2003 performs. I took a look at RC1 back when it was called .NET server, and I was quite impressed. It was as stable as some of the highest uptime Windows 2000 servers that I have known. I think after the initial config, I rebooted it once or twice in my trial, and that was to pull some hardware. It was easier to administer than 2000 and has all of the .NET goodies. It never crashed on me. Everything just worked.