Server 2003 isn’t efficient to manage

Another bullet point on the endless list of reasons not to run Windows Server 2003 is that it’s less efficient to manage than newer versions of Windows Server.

Newer versions of Windows Server are far more manageable and far more automatable than older versions of Windows Server. This is partly because it’s only with the more recent versions of Windows Server that the “PowerShell Administration Paradigm Shift” has been influential. Put simply, this paradigm shift is the change where PowerShell went from being just an optional way of performing a task to being the best way to perform a task.

Caveats to Windows Server

This doesn’t mean that PowerShell is the best way of performing all tasks today on Windows Server. What I’m suggesting is that with each successive release of Windows Server, the number of scenarios where PowerShell is the best option increases.

While you can certainly use PowerShell with Server 2003, Server 2003 wasn’t designed with PowerShell in mind as the primary administration tool. If you look at Nano Server and much of Windows Server 2016, you’ll come to the realization that PowerShell is probably going to be your first tool of choice and that you’ll fall back to other options as the exception, rather than the rule.