Platforms: In what has been “an excruciatingly slow public striptease for the last five years,” Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 now gives us “a chance to see what thousands of man-years yields in terms of innovation,” Tom Yager writes in Redmond’s new server OS hits paydirt. “Windows Server, once you build the essential Windows Server System components around it, is grossly overpriced.” True, Microsoft incorporated user feedback into WS08, but the company just didn’t ask IT what they wanted to pay for the OS, instead opting to sell a variety of pieces that may have users conjuring the adage, “be careful what you wish for,” Yager adds. “There is one way that IT can keep Microsoft, or any vendor, from reaching into their pockets: Don’t buy it.” Related: Vista SP1, Server 2008 RTM leak to Web. The news beat: Google releases Apps edition that bypasses IT departments aimed at workers interested in using Google Apps but whose employers have not signed up for it, the company says. On-demand software vendor Workday acquires Cape Clear for its SOA and ESB technology. Facebook links up with Vodafone on a mobile platform. And Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz says that it was attracted to MySQL’s impressive growth when purchasing the open source database company last month. Careers: A reader writes into Bob Lewis continuing the discussion about the employee who heard he was going to be replaced before his manager mentioned it. Our reader asks Shouldn’t whistleblowing be an option? “Taking a risk like this, foolish as it is, pretty much cuts to the essence of acting as a free person.” The original issue was about how to handle leaving a job on your own accord when HR presses for reasons why, and Lewis advises, “other than possible book deals, [whistle-blowing] is career death, which means I can’t recommend it except for extreme situations.” Software Development