In recent years, Microsoft has taken a pummeling in the Web server business. At one time, IIS and Windows NT Server 4.0 was the most popular commercial Web server platform; today, Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 are fighting against a wave of free and inexpensive versions of the Linux operating system and Apache Web server software. Microsoft argues that such servers don’t come with the support that a multi-billion dollar company like Microsoft can provide; fans of Linux/Apache solutions say, "Who cares?" As a result, Microsoft has worked hard to provide a lower-cost version of Windows that’s optimized to be a high-speed Web server. Although lower-cost certainly doesn’t beat free, it does help close the gap and make potential buyers look at the additional features IIS offers, as well as the support Microsoft can provide. Microsoft’s lower-cost Web server solution is Windows Server 2003, Web Edition.

Windows Server 2003, Web Edition’s lower price doesn’t mean you’re getting a free lunch, though. For example, Web Edition lacks the other Windows Server 2003 editions’ Enterprise UDDI (Universal Data Definition Interface) services, which is an industry-standard way of publishing and locating information about XML Web services. And, even though Web Edition can be a member of an Active Directory domain, it can’t be a domain controller. Web Edition also lacks support for Microsoft Clustering, although it does include the NLB software that’s appropriate for creating Web farms.

Web Edition lacks some of the communication features of the other editions, including the Internet Authentication Service (IAS), network bridging, Internet Connection Sharing, and the Internet Connection Firewall. Web Edition cannot host MMS. Unlike all other editions of Windows Server 2003, Web Edition does not support removable storage management, Fax Services, Remote Installation Services, Windows Media Services, or Services for Macintosh—all features that are useful on a network but are not specifically useful for a Web server. Although Web Edition does include Terminal Services’ Remote Desktop for Administration, allowing you to remotely control your Web Edition computers, Web Edition doesn’t support any other uses of the Terminal Services technologies.

Web Edition also lacks the scalability and reliability features of Enterprise Edition and Datacenter Edition, including a 64-bit edition, hot add memory, and NUMA support. Web Edition’s scalability and reliability derives entirely from the inherently reliable and scalable nature of Web farms, which you can build using the included NLB software.Web Edition’s potential applications? Just one: as a Web server, either in the Internet or on your company’s intranet. With more and more applications being implemented on Web servers, though, Web Edition’s lack of breadth can hardly be considered a limitation. And if you’re accustomed to paying a couple thousand bucks for the basic edition of Windows to run your Web servers, Web Edition’s sub-$1,000 list price should be a welcome change.