There is no question that updating from one version of an operating system to another is a bad mistake. It is always important to do a clean install.That said, it has been possible to upgrade from B2 to B3 without any major problems and I thought that I would try a B3 to RC0 update. It crashed about 80 minutes into the update with the cryptic message that it "could not continue". Microsoft really needs to provide a verbose mode for the installs and to provide error messages that at least give a hint as to what went wrong.Clean installs, as essential as they are, are a real problem in terms of time and effort. It takes us a minimum of 8 hours to re-install the operating system and the application programs including the time required with multiple overseas telephone calls to obtain permission to re-activate many of the programs. (This does not apply to a restore which takes about 20 minutes.)We have had flawless operation using B2 & B3 and will probably stick with B3 unless there is a reason to do a server installation on a new computer. Perhaps RC1 or RC2 will be better behaved or we will just bite the bullet and do a clean install. Incidentally, we do know that Windows Server 2003 to Server 2008 upgrades are a disaster. One resulted in a very unstable operating system and a second crashed in the middle of the upgrade with the infamous BSOD.

I have now done a clean install on a PowerEdge 2900. It was necessary to install a SATA driver at the beginning of the installation, but Server 2008 RC0 recognized the PERC 5/I RAID SATA controller and drives for the first time. It also recognized the Matrox Parhelia sound card as generic VGA. The installation went smoothly and took only about 15 minutes.RC0 seems to be quite stable. It may be my imagination, but it also appears to be faster compared with B3. This may be due to improvements in efficiency of the code, removing debug traces or other changes.We have had the usual horrendous problems getting the application software up and running. The drivers for the Matrox Parhelia and the RME DSP 9632 sound card work properly as with B3. Sydamed (accounting software) took four installation attempts and still has some problems. SQL Server 2008 has the well known, ghosty "pipes" problem which is unsolved at this time.

Beta/RC OS running accounting software - a bit brave isn't it?! I just installed RC0 to a spare drive and kept my 2003 Server install intact *just in case*..! Respect to your bravery

We aren't running the accounting software in a production setup - just testing it to see if it will be compatible. We use Sydamed for medical billing and QuickBooks for general accounting. Sydamed uses SQL Server 2005 for its database manager and the application program works fine with B2 & B3.We got stuck with a big bill from Intuit. We purchased multiuser QuickBooks 2006 only to find out shortly thereafter that it is incomptible with Windows Vista/Server 2008. QuickBooks 2007 runs properly on Server 2008, but we had to pay essentially full price to purchase it. Intuit doesn't offer a compatibility update.We have given up on RC0. I don't know what is causing the difference. We have had zero problems with B2 and B3, but several key programs are unusable on RC0.

What will you do if the evaluation period is finished? Are you going to re-install everything?

We have had repeated failures with attempts to update from one version of Windows Server 2008 to another. This experience plus the knowledge that it is always best to do a clean install, especially with a beta, means that we will undoubtedly do a clean install when the release version of Server 2008 becomes available.The catch results from a longstanding problem with most Microsoft operating systems. This is that the typical situation is that you cannot separate the application programs from the operating system partition. There is obviously some benefit from sharing DLLs, the contents of the registry, and other sections of the operating system partition. The downside is circumstances like "DLL Hell" and the unfortunate fact that if you do a clean install of the OS you are then forced to re-install all application programs which store code anywhere within the OS partition. Life would be so much simpler if each application program stored code only within its own directory. I am not exaggerating to state that it typically takes us 8+ hours to do a clean installation. This includes the telephone calls that may be required to re-activate the many programs which now require activation.

Exactly what drivers did you have to load at the beginning. RC0 ...... It's asking me for drivers disk / dvd /cdrom, for the same model 2900. I have ATA DVD rom I booted off of. And I don't know what driver that the install is looking for I tried several I downloaded from Dell support website. I tried the Intel Chipset Driver for ATA that is the same model that is running on my PE2900 under device mgr. I tried PERC 5I driver. No joy..... IT would be nice If I knew what driver it's looking for.