My colleague Phillip E. writes about Small Business Server 2008:

For those of us on the private SBS 2008 "Cougar" beta program, we have been privileged to have access to the new RC0 build of SBS 2008 since late last Thursday.

I think I can talk about what I've been doing for the past several months:  I was on the private beta for SBS 2008.  Microsoft still has the beta testers under an NDA for the beta bits that we tested, but I have my hands on the RC0 build and will give my impressions of it when I cut over to it on my personal box sometime next week.

Without going into too many details, I have a quirky home office with some weird requirements.  Combine that with a case of abandoned hardware (on a motherboard, no less!) and it was a very interesting beta!

As Phil puts it, SBS 2008 will be a steep(-ish) learning curve going from SBS 2003.  There's a lot that's different and I have had to resolve problems and make some decisions I've not made before in my testing. 

Vista, as you may know, makes some breaking security changes to try to enforce best practices amongst developers and users.  Windows Server 2008 similarly makes some changes, including Vista's changes, but most notably how Windows Backup works.  There are also changes in SBS itself to be well aware of, especially if you are an SBS Premium shop (as is Salem Access Television.)

On the other hand, It's been working out so far, since the post you're reading is passing through my SBS box.  I've always been a big fan of Microsoft's server products, and SBS 2008 is no exception.

I'll be liveblogging my latest installation.  Stay tuned for that one.