Windows Server 2003 Release 2 (R2) is Microsoft's latest revision in the Windows Server product line, essentially replacing the earlier version of Windows 2003. If you buy a new license for Windows 2003, you'll get the R2 version. Only Software Assurance (SA) customers can upgrade to R2 at no cost; other customers will require a full license. Even so, the new R2 release has some compelling new features—especially for remote branch office scenarios. Here are my 10 favorite new R2 features. To check out these new features for yourself, you can download an evaluation version from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/trial/default.mspx.

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