The old saying, "third time's a charm" definitely applies to Microsoft's Small Business Server 2003. Released last week, SBS 2003 is a polished and well-designed product that will satisfy the needs of small offices with multiple PCs but no central file server or IT support.

Expanding on SBS systems built on Windows NT and 2000, SBS 2003 comes in two editions: Standard and Premium. The Standard Edition includes file and print services, Internet Information Server, Web and portal services, and Exchange Server 2003. The Premium Edition adds SQL Server 2000, the Internet Security and Acceleration server and Office FrontPage 2003. Pricing starts at $500 and $1,500, respectively, including five client licenses.

Many server appliance vendors aim to make their products easy for non-technical users to run, with varying success. But Microsoft achieves ease of use two ways. First, hardware vendors such as Dell and HP will pre-install the software on their servers, so users need only configure their network details. Second, the installation is wizard-based, producing a workable default configuration in nearly every case.

We tested the product two ways, once with it pre-installed and once from scratch. We received an HP Server TC2120 with the final beta software pre-installed. Configuration consisted of details for network addressing and connecting to our cable modem. Installation went quickly.

When the official SBS 2003 software became available, we installed it onto an existing server. After about an hour of handling Windows installation details, we reached the same To Do List screen for configuring the software as we did with the pre-installed version.

Microsoft includes a poster-sized Quick Start Guide with space to jot down pre-installation information. The guide was remarkably clear, even when handling multiple options and explaining technical concepts such as disk partitioning.

We liked the To Do List screen, located in server management utilities. It provides necessary configuration steps, along with a button to click for context-sensitive help. Each step opens a wizard to help complete the task and a Done box you can check when finished. You also can access the To Do List from the management screen for configuration help as needed.