Stable Environments

Stressed out? Maybe more of your colleagues throughout IT are, but life on the server front is getting simpler -- or trying to, anyway. Chalk that up to more all-in-one software packages that should, assuming they come as advertised, make your deployments a little easier out of the box. The R2 release of Windows Server 2003 puts more capabilities into the basic server package, and Red Hat's recent announcement that it's certifiying Web application and middleware stacks to go with its core Linux OS lets you put together all of the basics without any need to mess around with configuration. Small developments, maybe, but not meaningless ones.