I just received that e-mail from Microsoft:

Subject "MSDN Flash Special Issue: Windows Vista SP1 Available for Download by MSDN Subscribers"

So while I'm downloading that, to burn to DVD when finished, I'm installing Windows Server 2008 Enterprise in a Virtual Machine, Configuring Microsoft Office SharePoint Server on a small farm with SQL Server 2005 and a Domain Controller, and finishing the starter site on a Commerce Server 2007 stand-alone installation.  This is using 6.2 GB of RAM and averaging 50% CPU.  This machine isn't even breathing heavy.  For those of us who want it all for development performance, more is certainly better.  But, when you consider that this machine was built locally at a custom shop for about $2200 plus about $650 for the 28" Viewsonic flat panel, you have to ask why would someone spend all that money on the big name brands for less capability than 1/4 of this configuration.

I'm in the middle of rebooting 3 servers so when I finish I can install the Vista Service Pack 1 and cross my fingers.  We need to get Windows Server 2008 running on harware as well, so this virtual (VMware) installation should help me run through for the first time what it might look like.  It will be installed as a dual-boot option with Vista on this same hardware.  This means that my primary file server may need to be upgraded from 2003 R2 to 2008 to use it real time.  I'm hoping to have a similar server configuration to (Formerly Avanade, EMC) Dave McBride's dev environment.  This way, I can run up to 16 CPU cores in 4 physical boxes, virualizing perhaps dozens of servers at once.

I'll document some of the work done here to help others.  I'm using VM ware Workstation 6.0.2, running a Windows 2003 R2 SP2 domain controller I built last night for some future development.  Since there are no major add-ons and SQL Server is yet to be configured, I'll be using pretty much using default configuration.