Using Windows Server 2008 as a Desktop

RxC6

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anyone using windows server 2008 as a desktop? is there any disadvantage of using windows server 2008 than windows 7 as a desktop? cuz i was thinking of playing around with Hyper-V w/ the added windows 7 theme.

can anyone kindly list out the pros and cons? thanks :)
 
Multimedia and gaming functionality is less. It requires a lot of work to get going. Benchmarks after you add all of these services/functions to the OS are basically equal to desktop OS. I've tried it, it's a big pain in the ass for an everyday OS. Unless you're using it as a server then I really wouldn't recommend it.

Keep in mind there's going to be 'one guy' who's being a smart ass that says he does it and it's easy and it does everything he wants.
 
thanks for the input:) i read a few articles on it and found out that windows server 2008 R2 doesn't support superfetch. One thing i wana try windows server 2008 R2 is that i could use the Hyper-V to create many virtual machines. Or is having windows 7 + vmware a much better choice?
 
I'd do 7 and vmware.

A lot of tools/utilities like AV you need to have paid versions to run on Windows Server when a free version would work on 7.
 
I'm currently running Windows Server 2008 x64 on my main computer and have so for the past year. Yes there are a lot of caveats especially during initial setup, not to mention lack of built-in multimedia codec support or Media center (though, I've yet to run into a game that refuses to run on Server 2008 other than 16-bit dinosaurs). But if you want to run it as a workstation then more power to you :D especially if you want to test drive some of the server roles. You'll want to check out these guys for workstation conversion.

Would I do it again with server 2008 or 2008 R2? Most likely not. I did this for a multitude of reasons; mostly being for shits and giggles and because I was one of the few that fell for the "Server 2008 is better/faster/more reliable than Vista" mantra. I will probably get some flak for saying this, but I definitely wouldn't have done this if I hadn't Server 2008 available to me through my college's MSDNAA account.
 
I got my Server 2008 through MSDNAA as well, although I later found out that Microsoft is actually giving away Server 2008 to students for free through some DreamBlahblah program or something. For the most part, it is rolling great! The only thing that is bugging me right now is trying to figure out how to get my audio to work. X_x
 
Ya i used window server 2008 for about 6 months. It wasn't worth it. It was a lot of hassle and really no advantages. A lot of anti virus programs do not support server 2008. Some games were a pain in the ass to get running too.
 
Server 2008 R2's biggest downside is the inability to enable SuperFetch. See here. Also, Windows XP Mode does not yet work either. I was thinking about R2 for fun (student status FTW) but then I read about the lack of SuperFetch. That instantly shot it down.
 
RxC6, what are your system specs? If your system supports VT, your best bet is going to be running Windows 7 with XP Mode. However, if you need to run non-Windows OSes in a VM, such as Ubuntu, then just use VirtualBox. It's free, and does the job quite well.
 
Hyper-V is fine if you want to run a few virtual Windows-based servers, not so much for desktop operating systems other than 7 and vista - if you just want to play with virtual machines, don't tie yourself to the hassle of using 2008 R2 just to do it - go with 7 and vmware or virtualbox

MS also offers a Hyper-V server version for free, you get Hyper-V in a command-line only environment and you could run a main desktop VM with other VM's on top of that, but that comes with more headaches than using 08R2 as a desktop OS.
 
Multimedia and gaming functionality is less. It requires a lot of work to get going. Benchmarks after you add all of these services/functions to the OS are basically equal to desktop OS. I've tried it, it's a big pain in the ass for an everyday OS. Unless you're using it as a server then I really wouldn't recommend it.

Keep in mind there's going to be 'one guy' who's being a smart ass that says he does it and it's easy and it does everything he wants.

I does it. It's easy. It does everything I wants!! :p
 
To be honest, I think you really need to have a very specific reason for running a server as a desktop OS. I can be done sure, but its really probably not worth it.

There's just too many things that need to be setup with the server and there's really no big advantage in speed or stability for average desktop scenarios.
 
okay, maybe i should run server2008 on vmware instead to play around with the server roles. yeah i read about the superfetch and it was really a huge disadvantage against the windows 7. i'll just stick to the windows 7 and get virtualbox instead. thanks for the input guys. that really help me alot! :)
 
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