I went to the Windows Server 2008 Launch event today in downtown Portland with Jim, Jon, and Steve. It actually was a pretty decent event. It wasn't the typically glitzy schmooze fest that you normally see. The presentation actually has some very in depth discussion topics and wasn't a sales pitch like they were in the past. My only complaint is I wish it was a bit longer as the material was pretty in depth. 
For the geeks out there, here are my take away notes:
· Win2k8 Server and Vista are actually truly sharing the same code base. There will be one SP deployed for SP2 (and greater) that will be used for both platforms. Win2k8 server actually ships with SP1 installed.
· Server Core looks very interesting as it has the potential to cut down on the amount of patching you need to do on Server Core as there is less of an attack surface.
· Powershell is the new command line on steroids.
· IPV6 is fully baked into the network stack and is no longer an add on like it was in XP and Win2k3 server.
· Hyper-V is closing in on VMWare. There is a move to VM and HA in development with some of it in the new release candidate. Color me impressed.
· If you are familiar with the Citrix offerings, Microsoft has pretty much copied it for their Win2k8 Terminal Services. Gateway servers, true application vending, local print jobs instead of needing to install print drivers on the server. Major improvements here.
· New improvements in the Network Access Protection (NAP) that is the new RRAS and VPN solution.
· GPO's in AD can be searched and there are other big improvements there (we missed part of this talk as we were busy feeding our faces at breakfast).