Microsoft to Publish New Common Engineering Criteria at Tech Ed

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Microsoft will use its annual Tech Ed conference to be held in Boston the week of June 12 to publish the new Windows Server System Common Engineering Criteria for infrastructure software produced in 2007.

Among the new criteria are improved feedback platform for users; IPv6 support; Web services adoption; improved diagnostics; identity and access management; support for the security configuration wizard; native x64-bit support; and a standardized content model for printed documentation as well as online information.

Microsoft instituted the Windows Server System CER (Common Engineering Roadmap) for infrastructure software in 2003.

It lays down a process wherein all of its infrastructure server products will follow Common Engineering Criteria.

This includes a mechanism for publicly publishing progress toward implementing those criteria before each product launches.

The Common Engineering Criteria also apply to the software as well as to accompanying documentation, training, support, licensing and branding, it says.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant adds that it also “demonstrates Microsoft’s commitment to provide best-in-class products that are integrated and manageable, thereby providing the most consistent and predictable user experience, reducing IT complexity and total cost of ownership, and enabling a more secure and reliable IT infrastructure.”

However, when the CER was first announced, it was roundly criticized by customers as a ruse to make its “latest and greatest” products work better together at the expense of older versions and thus facilitate even greater lock-in.

To read more about customers’ criticism of CER, click here.

Needless to say, Microsoft officials such as Andy Lees, corporate vice president for server and tools marketing, didn’t see it quite that way.

Read the full story on eWEEK.com: Microsoft to Publish New Common Engineering Criteria at Tech Ed