There are still some older applications, and some application installers that are 16 bit.

Some customers have only noticed it now that those applications don’t work when running on 64 bit Operating Systems.

The support of 16 bit on 64 bit platforms has never existed. SysWOW64 supports 32-bit, but not 16bit. Windows Server 2008 R2 will only available as x64 and Itanium (IA-64) editions. Windows 7 will be available as x86 and x64 editions.

(x86 = 32 bit, x64 = 64 bit, IA64 = 64 bit)

If you are running a 16-bit application in this day and age, there must be a good reason. If the application is that important, then the investment should be made to redevelop it as long term solution. In the meantime, if you need to run it on a Server edition, you can run Windows Server 2008 x86 or Windows Server 2003 SP2 x86 in a Hyper-V Virtual Machine and run 16-bit applications on that Guest OS.

Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator's Companion from Microsoft Press is available as a FREE download. By Charlie Russel and Sharon Crawford. ISBN: 9780735620704

How to get it: Register at http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urws8un4p7

NOTE: Once you’ve authenticated using your Passport/Live ID the only required fields for registration are: name, country, role, and an email address. You’re taken directly to the download from there (you will need to temporarily allow Pop-Ups for the download window).

Today was D-Day for Windows XP and Office 2003. Both products moved from Mainstream Support phase to Extended Support phase.

Extended Supports entails:

• Paid support
• Security update support at no additional cost
• Non-security related hotfix support requires a separate Extended Hotfix Support Agreement to be purchased (per-fix fees also apply

Support for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 also ended today. If you have not upgraded to Service Pack 2 for Windows 2003, then you are totally unsupported.

All editions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 will transition from the Mainstream Support phase to the Extended Support phase on July 13, 2010.

For a complete breakdown of the support phases, see the Support Lifecycle Page

Just saw this over on the AD blog.

10 years ago, Microsoft’s largest internal domain was upgraded to Windows 2000 becoming the first production Active Directory, and it’s still going strong…

Dn: DC=redmond,DC=corp,DC=microsoft,DC=com
   whenCreated: 4/9/1999 7:49:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time;

redmond.corp.microsoft.com

The Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) version 5.5 contains the necessary tools and documentation to evaluate and mitigate application compatibility issues before deploying Windows 7, Windows Vista, a Windows Update, or a new version of Windows Internet Explorer in your environment.

ACT helps customers lower their costs for application compatibility testing, prioritize their applications, and deploy Windows more quickly.

You can use the ACT features to:

• Verify an application's compatibility with a new version of the Windows operating system, or a Windows Update, including determining your risk assessment.
• Become involved in the ACT Community, including sharing your risk assessment with other ACT users.
• Test your Web applications and Web sites for compatibility with new releases and security updates to the Windows® Internet Explorer® Internet browser.

You can get the tool from here.

Further information on the Windows Application Compatibility page on TechNet.