SearchExchange.com reports that later this month, Microsoft will release the new spam filter for Exchange 2003, as well as Service Pack One and the first Feature Pack.

Nice that they are separating the fixes (service pack) from the feature enhancements. Notable among the feature enhancements for me are the improved/new admin tools and the RPC-over-HTTP setup tools. Nice.

Speaking of which... If you have not yet enabled RPC over HTTP, let me tell you - it's very nice to be able to connect to the Exchange server securely over the Internet. It's also a bit complicated to set up (involves some registry editing, client software patch download, and a good understanding of the vague), and has not been all that well documented. However, there is a recently-published technical article at the Microsoft Download Center called “Exchange Server 2003 RPC over HTTP Deployment Scenarios” that covers the setup on both the server and client sides. Read carefully and follow every step, and it will work. Note also the system and network requirements. They are not optional. You'll need to have a compatible environment for this to work.