A solution provider in Florida that owns the domain name windowsserver2008.com has re-directed the URL to Apple's online store, where visitors are greeted by a giant image of the recently unveiled MacBook Air.

On Wednesday, the enthusiast blog Inside Microsoft reported the odd development and suggested that the windowsserver2008.com domain had been bought by a Mac fan and re-directed to Apple.com in order to embarrass Microsoft.

However, on its webpage, domain owner Symmetry Technical Consultants of Coral Gables, Fla., actually lists itself as a Microsoft Certified partner, which is the second highest designation within the vendor's channel program. TechTaxi couldn't find any mention of Apple products on the Symmetry's Website.

Symmetry, which offers a variety of desktop support, networking, managed services, connectivity, and software support services, registered windowsserver2008.com in October 2006 and owns the rights to the domain until October.

The prank has reportedly been causing quite a stir within Microsoft, although we were unable to reach company officials for comment.

Earlier this month, sources said that Windows Server 2008 had reached the final stages of testing, and Microsoft is expected to release it to manufacturing prior to next month's Feb. 27 launch event in Los Angeles.

Early reports from channel partners that have been testing release candidates of Windows Server 2008 have been glowing, as a result of features like virtualization, Network Access Protection, Internet Information Services 7.0, Server Core, Bitlocker, Terminal Services, and improvements to Active Directory.