This will probably be one of the most-reported news items of the year (and I don’t really do news) but Microsoft released Windows Server 2008 to manufacturing yesterday (in the middle of the night here).

I’m not sure quite how widely available the images are at the time of writing but beta testers can certainly download a copy from Microsoft Connect for the next 30 29 days and I’m told it’s also available to MSDN subscribers, as is Windows Vista SP1. I expect the product will also be made available to volume license customers over the next few days (if not already). There’s more information on Windows Server 2008 elsewhere on this site (and in the Microsoft press release).

The official launch date is still 27 February 2008, and in the UK the main customer event is planned for 19 March at the ICC in Birmingham. The various user groups are also in the process of planning a community launch event for 8/9 April at Microsoft’s UK Campus with session planning currently in progress – I’ll post more information as it becomes available.