If you just emerged from a stasis pod, and upon being revived were informed about Microsoft Windows Vista™, then tasked with developing a migration strategy for it, don’t worry, help is ready and available.
In our Vista migration strategy Stages 1 , 2 , and 3 , we described some steps to follow when architecting a migration strategy. Stage 4 is equally simple, and free:
Use Microsoft’s free Vista Migration tools.
The flagship of these tools is the Microsoft Business Desktop Deployment 2007.
Microsoft’s Business Desktop Deployment 2007 tool suite is probably the best gift Microsoft has ever made available to Partners. BDD 2007 consists of the following tools, User State Migration Toolkit, Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0, Windows Automated Installation Kit, Microsoft Core XML Services, Microsoft Management Console, Windows Script Host (WSH) 5.6. for Windows XP and Windows 2000 and/or for Windows Sever 2003, Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
This is about as much a Godsend as one can get.
However that is not all.
Microsoft also released the Desktop Optimization Pack, and on April 2, 2007, released the Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop. Currently in beta testing is the Microsoft Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Tool.
The Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance consists of Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization, Microsoft Asset Inventory Service, Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management, and the Microsoft Diagnostics & Recovery Toolset.
Using Vista Enterprise edition in conjunction with the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack would allow customers to secure PCs, centralize applications, and increase productivity while decreasing deployment costs
While available only to Software Assurance customers using Windows Vista Enterprise, these two new ways broaden the customer’s ability to license and deploy the operating system.
The license right to use Windows Vista on diskless PCs, which is simply a PC that runs Windows but does not store Windows or data locally because it does not have a hard drive
The availability of a subscription license called Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktops (VECD) which allows customers to use Windows in virtual machines centralized on server hardware. VECD enables customers to deploy and run Windows Vista Enterprise in virtual machines on server hardware. It provides a Windows experience that is centrally executed in the datacenter and delivered out to either PCs or thin clients.
Using VECD with PCs provides a flexible combination of local and remote computing including mobility and off-line usage. Using VECD with thin clients lets customers who are always connected use minimum footprint devices.
Both options provide a complete Windows experience for end users connected to the corporate network, typically delivered over Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) – a multi-channel protocol that allows a user to connect to a computer running Microsoft Terminal Services. It also allows IT administrators to centrally manage, provision and store Windows images. Of the two options, we think using VECD with PCs is often a better choice for most customers because it still allows local and offline use of productivity applications, such as Microsoft Office, while providing centralization for line of business applications.
How cool are these products?
When I think of the manual labor involved in our acquiring the number we have from all our clients, and seeing how we could have eased our workload.
But you don’t have to do the same.
