This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.
Windows Server 2008 beta testers are probably aware that the release candidate distributions include a pre-release version of the new virtualisation platform that is now known as Hyper-V (formerly known as Windows Server Virtualisation and codenamed Viridian).
With Hyper-V due to follow Windows Server 2008 release (within 180 days), it was widely anticipated that no formal beta would be available until Windows Server 2008 was finalised but Microsoft is announcing the first Hyper-V beta release today, including support for quick migration and high availability, ability to run Hyper-V as a Server Core role and integration of Hyper-V into Server Manager. Further details of Hyper-V are available on the Microsoft website.
Garry Martin alerted me to John Howard’s post which gives a warning about thje need to install Hyper-V using US English settings (don’t get me started about how there is no such thing as US English… there is English… and then there is American, which screws up the spelling by making some words phonetic).
There’s also a better write up (with videos) about some of the new features in the Hyper-V beta on the Windows Server Virtualization Team Blog.