Upgrading

If I had a category called “Microsoft are bastards”, this would be filed under that heading.

As most readers know, I’m currently sorting out a bundle of servers with Windows 2003 Server. All fine and dandy. The nice big hefty new email server is one where I’ve installed 2003 Server. Which is nice. Then it comes to installing Exchange. We’re using Exchange 2000 Server, which cost them somewhere in the vicinity of £30,000 a couple of years back. So obviously they don’t want to upgrade to Exchange 2003 – and spend another equivalent amount of cash – without a damn good reason.

When it comes to installing Exchange 2000 I get a message “Exchange 2000 is not supported by 2003 Server”. You what? So here comes Google to the rescue.

Nope. The fuckwit monkeys at Microsoft have changed 2003 Server to such an extent that Exchange 2000 won’t run on it. You can run Exchange 2003 on Windows 2000 Server. You can run Exchange 2000 in an environment that’s mainly 2003 Server, but the mail server itself has to be still Windows 2000 Server. And was this documented anywhere? Was it fuck as like.

There’s a phrase that Microsoft really don’t seem to like. It’s called “Backwards Compatibility”. Look at Playstations. If you’ve got a game for Playstation One, it’ll run on a PS2. And on a PS3 when it comes out later this year. But with MS? You’ve spent *cough* on Windows 2003 Server, and *cough squared* on Exchange 2000 – and the two won’t bloody well work together.

Cunts.