First came IBM and the whole "PS/2 + OS/2" mantra. Then Microsoft picked-up the theme with Outlook and Exchange (much to the chagrin of the DOJ). Now we have this half-hearted campaign by Redmond to convince us all that Vista and Server 2008 are "better together." Ignoring for the moment the trite nature of this worn out slogan, the real travesty here is that Microsoft needs to explain the re First came IBM and the whole “PS/2 + OS/2” mantra. Then Microsoft picked-up the theme with Outlook and Exchange (much to the chagrin of the DOJ). Now we have this half-hearted campaign by Redmond to convince us all that Vista and Server 2008 are “better together.”Ignoring for the moment the trite nature of this worn out slogan, the real travesty here is that Microsoft needs to explain the relationship at all. I mean, where was the marketing? I personally cannot recall a single memorable advertising spot for Vista in the consumer space, let alone anything addressed to IT shops. It’s like they decided to add insult to injury by simply dumping Vista on us without so much as fact sheet on why we should care.And now this “list.” A quick read of the “better together” subsection of the Windows Server 2008 Product Overview document shows a lot of internal plumbing stuff that really needed to be explained more deliberately. Transactional File System benefits for scripting? Improved performance and reliability with SMB 2.0? I mean, we all heard that the network stack was “rewritten with Vista.” However, Microsoft never bothered to tell us what that meant (outside of “it supports IPv6”). The say it’s faster at lots of things. Great! Now show me some benchmarks so I can pitch it upstairs! Perhaps Microsoft recognizes that there simply isn’t that much meat to the “better together” message. After all, a lot of the “benefits” sound more like fixes to obscure problems (QoS for services, better performance over high-latency links) that affect only a subset of the customer base. There are no “must have” integration features like there were when Windows XP (Active Directory, Group Policies) first assumed the mantle of desktop standard barer. And some of the stuff, like offline caching and streamlined service pack deployment, sound like warmed-over pieces of their long-suffering SMS and “IntelliMirror” efforts.In the end, the “better together” message is likely to illicit more yawns than anything else. The list is thin to begin with, and there’s simply nothing on there to make a fence sitter jump on the Vista bandwagon. Meanwhile, the Save XP campaign goes on … Software DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business