About 10 years ago, Microsoft adjusted its operating system release ideology so that the latest Windows Server operating system is always structured very similarly to the latest Windows client operating system. This has been the trend for some time now, with Server 2008 R2 closely reflecting Windows 7, Server 2012 feeling a lot like Windows 8, and many of the same usability features that came with the Windows 8.1 update are also included with Server 2012 R2. This, of course, carried over to Server 2016 as well—giving it the same look and feel as if you were logged into a Windows 10 workstation.
Now that we are all familiar and comfortable with the Windows 10 interface, we typically have no problems jumping right into the Server 2016 interface and giving it a test drive. Windows Server 2019 is once again no exception to this rule, except that the release of client-side operating systems has shifted a little bit. Now, instead of releasing new versions of Windows (11, 12, 13, and so on), we are, for the time being, simply sticking with Windows 10 and giving it sub-version numbers, indicative of the dates when that operating system was released. For example, Windows 10 version 1703 released around March of 2017. Windows 10 version 1709 was released in September of 2017. Then, we have had 1803 and 1809 as well—although 1809 was delayed a little and didn't release until somewhere closer to November, but that wasn't the original plan. The current plan is Windows OS releases every six months or so, but expecting IT departments to lift and shift all of their servers just for the purposes of moving to an OS that is six months newer is crazy; sometimes it takes longer than that just to plan a migration.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself a little, as we will be discussing versioning of Windows Server later in this chapter, during our Windows Server versions and licensing section. The point here is that Windows Server 2019 looks and feels like the latest version of the Windows client operating system that was released at about the same time—that OS being Windows 10 1809. Before we get started talking about the features of Windows Server, it is important to establish a baseline for usability and familiarity in the operating system itself before diving deeper into the technologies running under the hood.
Let's spend a few minutes exploring the new graphical interface and options that are available for finding your way around this latest release of Windows Server, with a view to covering the following topics in this chapter:
- The purpose of Windows Server
- It's getting cloudy out there
- Windows Server versions and licensing
- Overview of new and updated features
- Navigating the interface
- Using the newer Settings screen
- Task Manager
- Task View
