I've just been promoted. Having been a columnist for years, I've finally made the grade as an actual software reviewer. Not that I'm likely to stay at that lofty rank--around here, everyone knows the reviewers do the "real" work. But I want to enjoy it while I can--which, since I've written only a single review, probably won't be very long.

The review
		Here's my formal review of Small Business Server 2003. Microsoft Small Business Server 2003

My write-up of Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 has just posted. But as a multitasking reviewer/columnist, I get to do something the reviewers can't: Write a column about my review. Now I can tell you all the stuff I wanted to put in the original manuscript, but had to leave out because it wasn't formal enough for our reviews format and, even if it had been, would have turned the story into a 12-page opus. The reviews site doesn't do opuses.

THE REVIEW is what I think about Microsoft Small Business Server (aka SBS), and this column is how I feel about it.

For example, the reviews math gave the product a 7.8 rating. That number's fair but deceptive. I'm a words guy and "like it a lot but it could be better" is what I was trying to convey; the numeric score accomplishes that nicely. But a number implies a comparison, and it's really impossible to compare SBS to anything else.

That's because you probably wouldn't buy SBS or any other server OS based strictly on a comparison of features or scores; other concerns probably come first. In this case, you either want the Microsoft solution or you don't. If you're a small business (fewer than 75 desktops), SBS is how Microsoft wants you to buy in. It's also Microsoft's way of begging you not to buy Linux or even a Mac server, both good choices if you don't need the Microsoft technology. (Of the two, I'd take the Mac.)

I wanted an Exchange server for e-mail, calendaring, and contact management, and I really like SharePoint for collaboration. I also like SBS's close link to Office 2003 and Windows XP Pro. So for me, SBS makes sense.

(In fact, my friend Susan Bradley, the well-known SBS Diva, thinks of the three--SBS, Office 2003, and Win XP Pro--almost as an integrated system. Indeed, SBS really expects to see clients using XP Pro, Outlook 2003 is actually included with SBS, and SharePoint and Office are tied together for collaboration from within Office apps.)

I also wanted a file server to which I could redirect all the My Document folders on my various machines. My server hardware has a RAID drive and tape backup, so I know all those documents are safe and sound.

Another thing that attracted me to SBS: The combination of mail and file server software in one box means I can see all my mail and files from wherever I happen to be, using either the built-in VPN or the remote server management tools.

SBS 2003 has some features that full-fare Windows Server 2003 doesn't, but should. For example: e-mailed server status reports and notifications; and the remote Web workplace, which makes it easy to access your desktop from a remote Web browser. This same technology allows me to manage a headless (no screen, no keyboard) server from wherever I am.

THIS ISN'T the first time I've used Small Business Server. I tried SBS 2000 and gave up because setup and maintenance were too time consuming, occasionally even daunting. But when I heard that ease of setup and administration were the design goals for SBS 2003, I got interested in having my own server again.

True to those goals, SBS 2003 is dramatically easier to set up and manage than its predecessors. If I can do it, you probably can--or, at least, you can with the help of your hardware vendor if you purchase the software preinstalled on a new machine. Microsoft really doesn't recommend SBS 2003 as a do-it-yourself project for small businesspeople. But I think they'd concede that AnchorDesk readers are more technically accomplished than many businessfolk and are likely to do just fine.

Day-to-day management of the server is easy, too--that is, if you actually had to manage it day-to-day. Most of the time it just runs, backups happen automatically, and server management and status reports arrive in my mailbox.

I've had a few problems with the firewall, which I could probably fix, but I'll likely opt for a hardware firewall instead. HTTP traffic has occasionally stopped flowing from the clients to the Internet via the server, which may or may not be a server problem; whatever it was, rebooting solved it. Beyond that, everything has worked fine.

ALL THAT SAID, while SBS is really easy to set up and administer at first, eventually you'll get to the end of what Microsoft's wizards and to-do lists can help with. When it comes time to solve a problem or turn on a service not covered by a wizard or list, you'll have to deal with the management console directly--and that can be scary.

Sure, there'll be plenty of SBS 2003 books. And the user community and online support are quite good. But you can still lose a lot of time troubleshooting or teaching the servers to do new things. That's when many users will call in a system integrator or VAR.

Fortunately, in six months of testing, including betas, I've never had a crash or problem that took the server down for more than a few minutes.

I did, however, add some software to the machine. I'm a big fan of the Dantz Retrospect Backup app, which is available in an SBS version. Yes, the free backup software included with SBS works fine, but Retrospect backs up my clients as well.

Backing up client data isn't a problem, however, since redirecting the My Documents folders means that all user data resides on the server, safe in the womb of a RAID drive and tape backup.

I like SBS 2003 and it's made my life considerably easier. My next project will be to upgrade to the premium version and test the five-user version of Microsoft CRM that's being marketed (at a very nice price) to SBS customers.

If you're a small business that needs a big business server, and you're living in a Microsoft world, SBS is a great way to go.

What do you think? Do you set up or manage servers? Have you ever wanted to? Does SBS sound interesting? TalkBack to me below!