- Amazon is offering Windows Server Standard 2008 5 Client for only eight points below list - - indicating that somebody in the retail chain doesn't see the need to hack and slash their way to a fast start with the new operating system (although Amazon, as usual, is offering a pre-order price guarantee if the $949.99 discount price is cut further);

- With a couple of weeks until Amazon starts shipping Windows Server 2008, the OS is hovering at about 10,000 on Amazon's overall "best seller" list counting advance orders; that's not great compared to most other software products but actually pretty good for enterprise software;

- Who actually buys enterprise software through Amazon, anyway?

(And, note to Microsoft Marketing: the descriptive blurb on Amazon about Hyper-V, the virtualization technology that will work hand-in-glove with Server 2008, makes no mention that Hyper-V won't be generally released for several months after Server 2008. Hyper-V looked great to us in beta, but it was made clear to us that it will be in beta for a while after Server 2008 hits the market.)