So I finally got a test box to load SBS 2008 on. Having worked with SBS 2003 R2 for a number of years, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The install, which was from scratch, went pretty smoothly. I did notice that there was no place to do much customization of the install, which meant everything was going on the box from the start.

When the install got ready to start it did ask if I wanted to check for and download updates to be installed at that time, which I thought was a nice little touch. The full load time was about 2 hours.

Once installed, I noticed that it had a new Management interface. With the Vista base for the GUI, I was expecting changes, but not quite the ammount that I got. I didn’t see many of the things I’ve come to trust with the SBS 2003 interface, namely the advanced options such as computer management, Exchange browsing, etc. Midn you I have not looked hard into it all yet.

The other thing I noticed was that it gave itself a static IP without any input from me. This to me is a big no no especially if you are initially hooking it onto an existing network, as it could pick an IP Address that is used by a machine already on the network.

Outside of that right now, It seems like a nice system. I still have to run through the wizards to set up everything on it. It definitely is an experience though. The next thing to see is how intuitive it is and is the learning curve any different than looking at a Linux GUI or Mac GUI for the first time.