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Apr

28

How MED-V v2 Helps You Manage Windows XP Mode

Category: Vista News | Leave a Comment

The PressPass Q&A we posted today addressed a number of questions around Windows XP Mode. I wanted to clarify in more detail the differences between Windows XP Mode and MED-V and how specifically MED-V v2, a component of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), adds management to Windows XP Mode.

The main facts:

Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small-business users to run their Windows XP applications on their Windows 7 desktop.

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) is designed for IT Professionals.

How MED-V adds management to Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC?

To provide a managed, scalable solution for running virtual Windows XP applications, MED-V addresses many of the IT challenges around deployment and management including:

Deployment – deliver virtual Windows images and customize per user and device settings

Provisioning – define which applications and websites are available to different users

Control – assign and expire usage permissions and Virtual PC settings

Maintenance and Support - update images, monitor users and remotely troubleshoot

Run on multiple platforms – MED-V will work on both Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Which customers should use Windows XP Mode standalone?

Windows XP Mode standalone is suitable for small and medium business users, who are able to set their XP applications themselves and may or may not have IT Professional staff. Each PC has its own virtual Windows XP environment that is controlled and managed by the end user. Windows XP Mode standalone is not designed for large, centrally managed deployments that have widely deployed business applications that require Windows XP.

So in summary MED-V builds on top of Windows Virtual PC and adds important management capabilities.

Apr

28

Windows Vista SP2 RTM + Windows Vista SP1 Blocker Tool Removed

Category: Vista News | Leave a Comment

Today we are announcing the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. SP2 represents the latest step in Microsoft’s commitment to continuous improvement. It includes all updates that have been delivered since SP1, as well as support for new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards. 

As we have mentioned before, here are some of the key benefits of Windows Vista SP2:

And since it comes with a single installer for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, SP2 will be easy for IT Pros to manage, deploy, and support. For a complete overview of the changes introduced in SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, check out the notable changes document on TechNet.

Business customers with Windows Vista will find that the transition from Windows Vista to Windows 7 will be significantly more straightforward due to the high degree of compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7. If your Windows Vista SP1 deployment is already underway we recommend you continue with SP1 as planned. Then you can deploy SP2 using your systems management infrastructure.  If you are in the early stages of deployment or still planning Windows Vista deployment our best advice is that you plan on testing and deploying Windows Vista SP2. For more, I suggest reading this blog post from Gavriella Schuster in regards to guidance on Windows deployments.

We expect Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 to be publicly available in Q2 2009.

As a quick reminder, Windows Vista SP1 Service Pack Blocker Tool is being removed today, as we announced back in January. For customers who previously had the blocker tool in place, Windows Vista SP1 will now be offered to them via Windows Update.

Apr

28

An Overview of Recent Updates to Windows Live

Category: Vista News | Leave a Comment

Over the past few weeks, we’ve introduced quite a few improvements to Windows Live. I thought it would be nice to list all those improvements in a single blog post for everyone to read.

New web activities: 20 new third-party feed partners were added to Windows Live including Facebook, Digg, and SmugMug. MySpace will also be added in the coming months, so that MySpace customers can share activities and updates from MySpace to people in their Windows Live network.

Windows Live web activities

By adding new feed partners to Windows Live, it’s easier for you to connect your activities various blogging sites, social networks and photo sharing sites and share them with your friends in your Windows Live network. This update will make it easier for the 500 Million users who are active on Windows live today to connect their activities on these partner sites and share them with their friends on Windows Live.

Facebook web activity

For instance, when you add the Facebook web activity – any photo, video, note or status update you make on Facebook will now appear on Windows Live via your What’s New feed. When you add Digg, any article you “digg” or submit to Digg, will now appear on Windows Live via your What’s New feed. Since Windows Live is global, it’s interesting to note that fourteen of the 20 new feed partners are headquartered in countries outside of the United States. According to Comscore, Hyves is the top social network in the Netherlands, and Metroflog is a top social network in Argentina.

There are quite a few partner web activities you can add today! Check them out by going to your Windows Live Profile and choosing “Web activities” in the lower left-hand corner of your profile

Add new contacts to Windows Live: MySpace, hi5, and Tagged join Facebook and LinkedIn as contact partners on Windows Live. Now you can exchange contacts between Windows Live and these five social networks and vice versa.

Add contacts to Windows Live

Messenger has come to Hotmail: Now you can IM through the web via Windows Live Hotmail. You can sign-in to Windows Live Messenger directly from within Hotmail and exchange IMs with your Messenger contacts.

IM via Hotmail

If you are ever on a PC that doesn’t have Windows Live Messenger installed, just go to your Hotmail inbox and sign in to Messenger there to chat with your contacts. Once you sign-in, you can browse your contacts via your People page. If you are signed in to Messenger while checking your Hotmail and a contact sends you an IM, a toast will pop up in the lower right-hand corner of the page just as it does on a PC. For more details on Web IM in Windows Live Hotmail – see this blog post from Antonia on the Windows Live Team Blog.

Arrange your Photos in Windows Live SkyDrive: I blogged about this last week. Windows Live SkyDrive now allows you to arrange your photos in any order you want (thanks to Silverlight).

Arrange photos in SkyDrive

In one of your Photos folders on SkyDrive just click “Sort” and choose “Arrange photos”.

Photos of you: A new entry point has been added to Windows Live Profile pages called “Photos of you”. Essentially, this new link will take you to a page of photos tagged with a specific person (or yourself). It’s a great way to see all the photos your friends appear in or photos you appear in.

Photos of you

SkyDrive takes your Favorites: All your Favorites from favorites.live.com are now automatically moved to SkyDrive where you can use Windows Live Toolbar to sync your Favorites with Internet Explorer on your PCs.

And the Windows Live Sync website has now been integrated with the new Windows Live UI we launched with this last fall.

New Windows Live Sync website

The new Windows Live Sync website makes a huge difference in managing your personal and shared folders and managing the PCs you are syncing them with.

Enjoy the improvements to Windows Live!

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