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Archive for the 'Vista' Category

Microsoft Virtualization Assessment and Planning Tool

Published by ryangl March 6th, 2008 in Management, Tools, Virtualization, Vista and Windows Server 2008. 0 Comments

 WS08HypeV_logo_250

As part of their Solution Accelerator for Virtualization, Microsoft has released an assessment tool that will allow you to assess your IT infrastructure and take that data to assist with modeling your migration to Windows 2008, Hyper-V, Application Virtualization, and Vista.  Of course, you could still use this info in planning consolidation to other VM platforms as well.

The Microsoft® Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator (MAP) makes it easy for you to assess your current IT infrastructure and determine the right Microsoft technologies for your IT needs.

MAP is a powerful inventory, assessment, and reporting tool that can securely run in small or large IT environments without requiring the installation of agent software on any computers or devices. The data and analysis provided by this Solution Accelerator can significantly simplify the planning process for migrating to Windows Vista®, Microsoft Office 2007, Windows Server® 2008, Microsoft Application Virtualization (formerly SoftGrid), and Windows Server virtualization technologies including Virtual Server 2005 R2 and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator expands upon the assessment features included in the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator. These features include Windows Vista assessment, Microsoft Office 2007 assessment, and non-Windows device inventory, using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Reports for these assessment scenarios are localized in French, German, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish.

Feature Overview

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator performs three key functions; hardware inventory, compatibility analysis, and readiness reporting.

Secure and Agentless Inventory

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool provides secure, agent-less and network-wide inventory that scales from small business to large enterprises. It collects and organizes system resources and device information from a single networked computer. Assessment tools often require users to first deploy software agents on all computers to be inventoried, but this tool does not. MAP uses technologies already available in your IT environment to perform inventory and assessments. These technologies include Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), the Remote Registry Service, SNMP, Active Directory Domain Services, and the Computer Browser service. Assessments can be completed on the following Windows platforms:

  • Windows Vista
  • Windows XP® Professional
  • Windows Server 2003™ or Windows Server 2003 R2
  • Windows 2000 Professional or Windows 2000 Server
  • Windows Server 2008
Comprehensive Data Analysis

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator performs a detailed analysis of hardware and device compatibility for migration to Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Application Virtualization, and Windows Vista. The hardware assessment looks at the installed hardware and determines if migration is recommended. If it is not recommended then the reports tell you why it is not.

Device assessment looks at the devices installed on a computer and reports availability of drivers for those devices. Device assessment is provided for both Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista migration scenarios.

For customers interested in server consolidation and virtualization through technologies such as Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2, this tool helps to gather performance metrics and generate server consolidation recommendations that identify the candidates for server virtualization and how the physical servers might be placed in a virtualized environment.

In-Depth Readiness Reporting

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator generates reports containing both summary and detailed assessment results for each migration scenario. The results are provided in both Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word documents. Reports are generated for the following scenarios:

  • Identification of currently installed Windows Client operating systems, their hardware, and recommendations for migration to Windows Vista.
  • Identification of currently installed Windows Server operating systems, their hardware, and recommendations for migration to Windows Server 2008 (including a report detailing currently installed server roles).
  • Identification of currently installed Microsoft Office software and recommendations for migration to Microsoft Office 2007.
  • Detailed assessment and reporting of server utilization gathered using the Performance Metrics Wizard.
  • Recommendations for server consolidation and virtual machine placement using Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2.
  • Assessment of client machines, servers, and the technology environment for the implementation of Microsoft Application Virtualization (formerly SoftGrid).  
  • Reporting of SNMP-enabled devices found in the environment during inventory.

Download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator

p2vd.com » Microsoft Virtualization Assessment and Planning Tool

Windows 7 To Be Released Next Year?

Published by ryangl March 4th, 2008 in Vista. 0 Comments

windows7-wall

Is Vista a bigger bust then Windows ME?  Could be seeing that there are rumors out there that "Windows 7" might be here sooner than expected.

"A recently-released roadmap for the next major Window release — Windows 7 — indicates that Microsoft is planning to release the new operating system in the second half of 2009, rather than the anticipated release date of some time in 2010. This quickly-approaching release date would seem to be at least partially verified by news of a milestone build available for review by an anonymous third party."

Slashdot | Windows 7 To Be Released Next Year?

Why all Vista users should upgrade to Windows XP

Published by ryangl March 2nd, 2008 in Vista and Windows Server 2008. 0 Comments

It is amazing how quickly Vista has failed, not only in the home, but more in the business.  The main problem with with the business side is that Windows XP is perfect for business, and now with the anticipated release of XP SP3, Vista will shoved to the back of the line with Windows ME, deemed a failure in the eyes of the corporate world.

When Vista was first released and I was playing with the CTP version you could tell that it was not going to be viable in the business world.  Why?  UI improvements would make end-user training a nightmare.  I still like the idea out there that Microsoft should release Windows Workstation 2008.  Make a true business-class, with a modular approach, rather than giving me WDS, Aero, and all the other bells and whistles that slow down Vista.  Until then, if you would like to run Windows Server 2008 as a "Super Workstation", check out what you would need to do here.

Now that Microsoft has announced the availability of the RC version of Service Pack 3 for our old friend, XP, I’m delighted to tell you all that not only is this upgrade substantial and extremely helpful. Believe it or not, this upgrade creates the best Windows experience I have ever used.

Now, as you may be aware, Vista is, well, crap. Sure, SP1 is on the way early next year and the hope is still there that Microsoft may be able to turn it around, but let’s face it — the chances of Vista becoming a wanted OS are dwindling by the minute.

Why all Vista users should upgrade to Windows XP | The Digital Home - Don Reisinger’s take on the tech closest to home - CNET Blogs

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Revealed

Published by ryangl September 6th, 2007 in Releases, Service Packs and Vista. 0 Comments

 Paul Thurrott has detailed the first service pack for Vista, SP1, on his site winsupersite.com. 

With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), now due in the first quarter of 2008, Microsoft is deemphasizing the role that service packs play in the ongoing updating and maintenance of its operating systems. That is, Vista SP1 will be a traditional service pack, collecting previously-issued updates into a single installation, and including few new end user features. It will, however, improve the Vista experience in a number of ways and include new device drivers and other improvements.

There are a number of reasons for this de-emphasis of service packs with Vista SP1. Most customers of Microsoft’s latest OS releases have pervasive Internet connections and regularly update their systems automatically via the company’s numerous online updating services, which we might collectively think of as Microsoft Update. (These services include Microsoft Update, Windows Update, Office Update, Automatic Updates, Windows Server Update Services, the Microsoft Download Center, and others.) And thanks to new updating mechanisms in Vista itself, Microsoft can drive improvements to customers more quickly than via service packs.

…

Microsoft says it will make the following quality improvements in Vista SP1.

Security improvements include previously-announced changes to Windows Security Center that will allow third-party security software makers to more effectively communicate with and replace Microsoft’s security dashboard with their own solutions, new APIs aimed at helping security software makers work with the Kernel Patch Protection feature in 64-bit versions of Vista (also previously announced), changes to RemoteApp and the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), the addition of a new Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) pseudo-random number generator (PRNG), and a change to BitLocker Drive Encryption that adds optional multifactor authentication method combining keys protected by a TPM hardware module, a Startup Key stored on a USB memory key device, and a user-generated personal identification number.

Reliability. For reliability, Vista SP1 will include better reliability and compatibility with newer graphics cards, improved reliability when using notebook computers with an external display, improved networking configuration reliability, improved reliability of systems that are upgraded from XP to Vista, better compatibility with many printers, and increased reliability and performance when entering and resuming from sleep mode.

Performance. Vista SP1 adds a number of performance improvements as well by increasing the speed of copying and extracting files, increasing the performance of Hibernate and Resume, increasing the performance of domain-joined PCs when working offline from the domain, improving the performance of Internet Explorer (IE) 7 by reducing CPU utilization and speeding JavaScript parsing, improving battery life on certain mobile systems by reducing screen redraws and thus CPU utilization, increasing the performance of the CTRL+ALT+DEL logon dialog, and improving the performance of browsing network file shares.

Administrative improvements

Vista SP1 will include a number of changes aimed at the system administrators who deploy, support, and maintain Vista-based systems. These changes include:

BitLocker Drive Encryption. In the initial version of Vista, BitLocker could only automatically encrypt the C: drive. Now, in SP1, BitLocker can also optionally encrypt other drive volumes (D:, E:, and so on), as is possible with Windows Server 2008.

Terminal Service printing. Local printing from a Windows Terminal Services session will be improved.

Network Diagnostics. Windows Vista SP1 will add a new version of the Network Diagnostics tool that will also help administrators and end users diagnose common file sharing problems. (Available from the Diagnose and Repair link in Network and Sharing.)

Disk Defragmenter. The built-in Disk Defragmenter service will be updated so that customers can configure exactly which volumes are automatically defragged.

Group Policy. Vista SP1 will include a number of Group Policy (GP) changes. Most controversial, the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) will be uninstalled so that the GPEdit management console can be used to manage local policies. Microsoft will also ship a tool before SP1 that will let admins add comments to Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and individual GP settings.

Support for new hardware and standards

Since Windows Vista shipped in early 2007, a number of emerging new hardware types and international standards have emerged. SP1 will address these changes by adding support for them to Windows Vista. They include:

Extended FAT (exFAT) file system. A future standard for flash memory storage and consumer-oriented mobile devices. Based on FAT, exFAT adds support for longer file names and other improvements.

Secure Digital (SD) Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA). This update to SD technology improves transfer performance while decreasing CPU utilization. It will require SD DMA-compliant host controllers.

EFI network booting on x64 systems. In the initial shipping version of Windows Vista, 64-bit (x64) versions of the OS could boot on EFI-compliant PCs, which replace ancient BIOS technology with a more modern solution. With SP1, EFI-based x64 Vista systems can also support network boot, a feature that was previously available only on 32-bit (x86) Vista versions on BIOS-based PCs.

DirectX 10.1. Vista SP1 will support Microsoft’s latest multimedia and gaming libraries.

Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP). Vista SP1 will add support for the SSTP remote access tunneling protocol.

Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Revealed

 

What’s Behind the Windows Server 2008 Delay?

Published by ryangl September 3rd, 2007 in Releases, Service Packs, Vista and Windows Server 2008. 0 Comments

 Earlier last week Microsoft announced the RTM of Windows Server 2008 would be delayed, without giving much reasoning behind the announcement.  Redmond Developer News has some specualative information based around the release of Vista SP1, which would make sense.

Microsoft published almost no details earlier this week with its announcement that Windows Server 2008’s release to manufacturing (RTM) date had slipped from late this year into early next. Only vague explanations of needing to meet high quality standards were given, leaving most in the dark. Does the delay mean that Windows 2008 development has hit some kind of snag, and could more delays be coming?

…

Enderle, though, believes the timing of the delay is directly tied to another announcement Microsoft made on the same day: that Windows Vista SP1 was expected to RTM early next year.

Vista and Windows 2008 share the same codebase, and it’s important that one version of the code not get too far ahead of another version. With the many changes coming in Vista SP1, Microsoft didn’t want Vista’s code to be too far ahead of Windows 2008’s. “From the standpoint of servers, Microsoft would rather have [Windows 2008] at [Vista] SP1 level when it ships,” Enderle said.

Gillen agreed that the need to keep the code at roughly the same level could be a factor. “They can’t afford to let the two code bases get too far apart.”

Whatever the reason, the continued delays for Windows 2008 — formerly known as Longhorn Server — certainly take a toll on Microsoft’s reputation, which already suffers from a perception that it can’t make publicly-stated deadlines.

And if, for some reason, the RTM date were to slip again, it could be an ominous sign. Enderle does not anticipate another delay because, he said, Windows 2008 is now “Gated on [Vista] SP1’s” release, and there is finally an established timeline, if not yet a very specific one, for the service pack.

Said Gillen, “I really would not expect them to delay it again. If they did, it wouldn’t bode well in terms of how they would deliver this product.”

Redmond Developer News | News: What’s Behind the Windows Server 2008 Delay?

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