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I am specing out new development workstations for my team and I am running into a conflict. I am a developer and I want Windows Server 2008 R2 because that is what our production servers are running. The IT guys want to give us Windows 7 because that is where they have tested all their infrastructure.

My question is this: is there enough of a difference between the two to push for 2008 R2? I know MSFT has crippled IIS in previous versions of Windows unless it was the server edition so I am skeptical about Win7 giving me what we need.

Jeff
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2 Answers2

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You can use Windows 7 for your development machines and have one Windows Server 2008 R2 for UAT deployments. This way you can have the best of both worlds. IT will be happy that you are all running Windows 7 and you will be happy that you're able to test your application in windows server 2008.

This question answer might be helpful.

Differences between Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Community
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evasilchenko
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  • Thanks for the link. It sounds like there isn't much to worry about. – Jeff Aug 09 '11 at 15:37
  • Yeah, this of course doesn't speak with everyone but we recently developed an app in windows 7, deployed it and all the subsequent updates to windows server 2008 r2 without any problems. – evasilchenko Aug 09 '11 at 15:41
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Your IT guys are correct aside from licensing issues such cost as Office without workstation on OpenValue, OpenSelect etc.. (remember they are packaged together) etc.. there are hardware issues and compatibility with future software.

There is no way you need 2008 R2 Server, do you want to work in the data center too? or have a full copy of the live database? You should have a CI server though that represents the live environment , the IT guys should provide this for you - probably as a VM.

CouchDBFan
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  • The HTTP throttling limit has been removed or dramatically increased from what I read, other than that, you dont have to worry.. – CouchDBFan Aug 09 '11 at 15:03
  • I dont work in the data center. I can pull copies of the production database whenever necessary. We have CI set up that mirrors the production environment so we are covered there. I guess I am just nervous because the current workstations are XP Pro with IIS 5. I want to make sure that current problems end soon! – Jeff Aug 09 '11 at 15:33
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    To be fair, you even stay with current workstations and use IIS Express which support the same features of IIS7 for anything you do with WCF, ASP.Net Routing etc.. – CouchDBFan Aug 09 '11 at 16:01
  • thats a good idea. maybe ill do that until the new workstations come in. thanks! – Jeff Aug 10 '11 at 13:50