IIS 4/Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack released

Microsoft has released the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack, which includes therelease version of Internet Information Server 4.0, Transaction Server 2.0,Message Queue Server 1.0, Certificate Server 1.0, Internet Connection Services for RAS, new data access components, Site Server Express, InternetExplorer 4.01, and Service Pack 3 for Windows NT 4.0. The CD-ROM version ofthe pack, due soon, also includes Personal Web Server 4.0 for Windows NT Workstation and Windows 95. You can download NT Server, NT Workstation, andWindows 95 versions of the Option Pack now from the Microsoft Windows NTServer Web site.

The full install for Windows NT Server is an 85 MB download. The full install for Windows NT WS requires a 44 MB download, while the Windows 95version is about 35 MB. There are minimum and standard downloads as well.

Starting in January, the Option Pack will ship with all copies of WindowsNT Server 4.0. The Option Pack is designed as a stop-gap release whileusers wait for Windows NT 5.0. It includes the Microsoft Management Console, which will become the central management front-end in Windows NT 5.

We are currently preparing a review of the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack thatwill be published to the Nexus later this week