Future Exchange distribution media: CDs vs. DVD? Let us know!
Published Mar 04 2005 12:25 PM 3,856 Views

Exchange Server 2003 fits on a single CD. For Exchange 12, which is expected to be released in the second half of 2006, the disk space consumption for a full install of the product is much larger than previous versions, because of certain features that use a lot of disk space across multiple languages. So because of that and because we've heard complaints from customers who didn't like multiple-CD installs of other server products, we are evaluating shipping the Exchange12 bits on a single DVD instead of multiple CDs.

 

We're aware that DVD drives are not as common in server hardware as they are in consumer and end user systems, but we're trying to get some feedback to understand how our customers feel about the idea of having a DVD for Exchange instead of multiple CDs. Here are some specific questions that we'd appreciate your answers to:

  • In your Exchange server environment today, do you currently have a DVD drive available - such as on a machine reachable over the network from your server, or a USB DVD drive - from which you can install server software?

  • Thinking about your Exchange environment in late 2006, do you expect to have a DVD drive available from which you can install server software at that time?

  • Would you see Exchange shipping on one DVD (as opposed to multiple CDs) as a convenience or a hassle? If a hassle, do you have a "threshold point" for where a single DVD becomes more attractive than multiple CDs? I.e. is it 3 CDs? 4?

  • Do you have any other comments on DVD or CD media for server software?

Please post your thoughts on this as comments to this post!

 

- KC Lemson

68 Comments
Not applicable
DVDs only
Not applicable
Not everyone has a DVD drive and we all know from experiance that people install Exchange in all kinds of wierd ways.
I would say OK to DVD as long as it would be possible to copy the media over the network to the Exch server HD just in case they dont have a DVD drive.
Not applicable
Why bother with either CD or DVD?

Have media available for download from secure site on the Internet.

This is obviously the next step.
If someone wants a CD or DVD they can pay an extra $10-$15 for it.

Everyone seems to just copy it to a network location anyway.
Not applicable
I think DVD is a great idea, but maybe this time you can save some space by compressing (CAB) the OWA language files. I can't believe how long it takes to copy all those files that many of us will never use. I think most international customers wouldn't have a problem uncompressing the languages that they use.
Not applicable
I believe that DVD drives will eventually become the standard for servers as CD's did a few years ago. In many of our customer's, they copy the CD media today to a network drive location, in which case the media itself is not important. I vote for E12 to be delivered on a DVD and not on CD's.

Thank you KC for asking the community!
Not applicable
Either is OK as long as I can install across the network. I do not expect to have a DVD in all my servers in 2006, but I probably will have a dvd drive in all the new machines.

Not applicable
Virtually every server we have ordered in the last 12 months supports DVD, so moving to DVD images would be no issue.
Not applicable
DVD format with ISO's to make individual CDs in case i need them.
I also usually run exchange setup from a network location or copied locally to run from there.
Not applicable
I like the DVD with ISOs for cds available idea.
Not applicable
DVD format would work best. We usually end up placing the media files on a file server so we don't hunt around all do for the CD's.
Not applicable
dvd
Not applicable

We have approx 140 servers, none of which have a DVD drive.

Nice to know though that we should consider DVD drives for any new serveres we purchase...
Not applicable
I agree with Denny (2nd post), and many others...

DVDs. No CDs at all, please--but if there's room, put the ISOs on the DVD for people who need to make their own CD-R sets for that strange server without a DVD drive and can't figure out how to install from a shared network drive. ;)

~ewall

Not applicable
DVD!

Just imagine, 2003 R2 (2CDs) Exchange 12 (2CD's) Office 2003 Suite (5CD's) The time for DVD is now :)
Not applicable
Err .. I like games on a DVD because I really do not like disc juggling installing software.
This is also true for corporate software!

Also I like the idea that maybe you can add more extra's on it like:
Tools, training video', manuals etc. the whole Microsoft Exchange Download site .. ;-)

Maybe you can integrate WindowsPE, make the disc bootable for Exchange recovery.
Not applicable
A while back, we asked you what you thought about having Exchange 12 ship on DVD. We also did some market...
Not applicable
It's that time of year again... the third annual blogoversary of the exchange product team blog! And...
Not applicable
What an exciting week it has been for our team! As part of the "Service Desk" Technology Adoption Program
Version history
Last update:
‎Jul 01 2019 03:04 PM
Updated by: