SharePoint SP2 (WSS)

I can't wait for it, I need it now.  Service Pack 2 for SharePoint is available in the Beta of Windows Server 2003 R2 (the interim release of Windows between 2003 and longhorn).

The two enhancments everyone has gotta have are:

Support for IP-bound virtual servers

Previous releases of Windows SharePoint Services did not support assigning a static IP address to an IIS virtual server extended with Windows SharePoint Services. Instead, it was required that you used host headers and configured all virtual servers with an IP address setting of All Unassigned. This limitation, as described in KB article Q830342, prevented being able to host multiple SSL-enabled virtual servers on one Web server. In Service Pack 2, this limitation has been removed, and Windows SharePoint Services now supports assigning a static IP address to a virtual server extended with Windows SharePoint Services. Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2 will not support IP-bound virtual servers if it was deployed in scalable hosting mode, as described in the Server Farm with Multiple Hostnames Deployment topic of the Windows SharePoint Services Administrator’s Guide. IP-bound virtual server support is only available when Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2 is deployed in non-scalable hosting mode.

Support for advanced extranet configurations

Windows SharePoint Services generates some hyperlinks in its Web pages and e-mail messages using absolute URLs. Earlier releases of Windows SharePoint Services generated those absolute URLs using the protocol scheme, host, and port of the Web request that SharePoint received or the URL used to originally create the site. This prevented Windows SharePoint Services from supporting certain advanced extranet configurations where a reverse proxy server is deployed in front of the SharePoint server.

 

Phew, now I can have multiple SharePoint portals on the same box, assigned to different IP addresses, you know like god intended it. Not to mention I can now have ISA sit in front of SharePoint and do some link translation without having to worry about URL's not matching what the user is expecting on Lists and SharePoint generated email.

 

No delivery date yet, but at least it is in print, more details at: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=ABBA20F2-3625-4C9C-A412-AB9BBEBDB5E8&displaylang=en