Hi , I run a small business with about 5 computers and I have just built a new server. I am thinking about installing either Windows Small Business Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition. What is the difference between the two OS's and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each ???? Cheers.

Off topic I know but as you run a small businness have you considered Unix/Linux ? Solaris 10 http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/index.jsp

Yeah, totally off topic and why in the world would you want to go with an OS that has lost 60% of it's market share in the past view years. Sun Microsystems will probably be only a memory in a few years. I would not use Linux in an environment like this. It is much harder to install, tech support is almost nonexistent and it is much less user friendly. But, the Linux geeks will argue - it's free. You get what you pay for. Gas.. I would do a search on the web describing the differences between Standard Edition and SBS and decide which is best for you. Only you can make that decisions.

"Off topic I know but as you run a small businness have you considered Unix/Linux ?" Yeah, that was very off topic. Might as well throw MAC into the mix here, too if you want to go down that road. "Sun Microsystems will probably be only a memory in a few years." LOL...no it won't. Sun is positioning itself very well for the next big thing in enterprise networking - virtualization. But neither here nor there... Back to the topic at hand... Small Business Server 2003 includes Exchange and Sharepoint, with a streamlined admin interface non technical people find more intuitive. Premium adds SQL server and ISA server. Limits: One server infrastructure with up to 75 users. There is a migration path to full 2003 infrastructure. Windows 2003 Server does not include Exchange, Sharepoint, SQL, ISA server, etc. But there's no limit to users, etc. Please help survivors of Hurricane Katrina. www.redcross.org

depends on what you need. Do you need a mail server or is that hosted elsewhere? Do you need ISA/SQL/etc. You may not need either or them, list what you want to accomplish and how much potential growth you expect and a budget