Microsoft put out its second Windows Server 2008 release candidate (RC1) Wednesday for anyone, it appears, to download and poke around ahead of the thing's long-awaited launch at the end of February at an event now dubbed "Heroes happen here."

To take you back, Microsoft had to pull virtualization code out of the operating system just to make that belated date. You might remember that for a while there Long Horn was due at the end of this year.

Anyway, Microsoft said some 1.8 million people have gotten evaluation code.

The company is apparently still enhancing the Group Policy with Group Policy Preferences, previously known as PolicyMaker Standard Edition and Policy Share Manager.

Microsoft expects to have another one of those community technology preview betas before sending the code to manufacturing.

It's also promising to spend $150 million worldwide chasing developers and IT professionals. It's got 300 partners enrolled in its early access software certification and "Works with" program.

As a way of being more inclusive, what with developer drift and all, Microsoft recently changed the licensing terms on Visual Studio IDE and is no longer limiting VS' use strictly to programs for Microsoft platform, a real turnabout.

The changes kick in with VS 2008 and its SDK, which have already RTM'd.

Under pressure, Microsoft is also setting up a shared source program so premier-level partners in its Visual Studio Industry Partner program can see some - note - some of the IDE's source code for debugging purposes and to simplify integration with their products.

See http://www.microsoft.com/ws08eval.

Meanwhile, Microsoft, which is still waiting for big-time enterprise adoption of its Vista desktop, is also circulating an RC of its bug-fixing and performance-enhancing Vista SP1.

Microsoft is changing its anti-piracy features from reducing phony copies to a practically unusable state compliments of a so-called kill switch to trying to coax them into a proper license. The enticements should show up when the SP1 code goes gold theoretically next quarter.