The two blogs where you will find MDOP content on a regular basis are the Windows for your Business Blog and the Springboard Series Blog.  On the Windows for your Business Blog we are now posting our MDOP news including product announcements.  The Springboard Series Blog is where the team talks about the technical side of MDOP.  The Springboard blog posts usually reference other content that we have made available on Springboard Series MDOP page or the Desktop Virtualization page.  For all you App-V fans there is also a dedicated App-V blog run by the App-V engineering team which is another great source of technical content and news.

Lastly I will point out the MDOP section of the Windows Enterprise site.  Here you will find information about the business value of MDOP and links to datasheets, whitepapers, and MDOP case studies.

Thanks for your continued interest in MDOP and we hope to see your comments on Windows for Your Business and Springboard!

UE-V is an enterprise-scale user state virtualization solution that delivers a user’s personal Windows experience across devices, is simple for IT to deploy, and easily integrates with existing management tools.

Some of the main features of UE-V are:

• Users retain their application experience without having to reconfigure applications when they log in from a different Windows instance - regardless of whether it is a rich desktop or virtual desktop session. 
• Automatically delivers a personal experience to Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 8 based devices, giving users the flexibility to work from anywhere.
• If a user accidently applies unwanted changes, IT can simply roll back to the initial state.
• Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft desktop virtualization products to roam the user experience in heterogeneous environments.

 Some of the new features in the App-V 5.0 Beta are:

• Flexible virtualization choices let virtual applications work more like traditionally installed applications, allowing local and virtual applications to communicate and enabling control of which virtual applications can share environments.
• There’s no dedicated drive letter required, and no 4 gigabyte maximum package size. It’s easy for IT to work with and take action on App-V diagnostic information because App-V logs Windows events instead of separate log files.
• Easy and efficient to use in VDI environments, allowing IT to make the best use of expensive disk resources without changing the way they get their jobs done.
• Web-based management makes it easy for busy IT professionals to get their work done while away from their desk.
• Rich PowerShell scripting allows IT to automate repetitive tasks and to integrate App-V with existing processes.

These products will be part of a future version of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP).  If you want to learn more about App-V 5.0 and UE-V now, check out the Windows for your Business Blog were we have posted even more information about the products.

For more detailed information on this announcement, please read the recent Windows for Your Business Blog and Springboard Series Blog.

This is a public beta available to everyone that completes the short questionnaire. We are very excited about this release and encourage everyone to download it and try it out. You can sign up and download the beta installer files from the DaRT 8 Connect site.

DaRT will be generally available as part of the next version of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP).

These new features and functionality include:

Extended License Management - In addition to Microsoft® Volume Licenses, manage Microsoft Retail Licenses, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) licenses for Microsoft software, and third-party software licenses.

Enhanced Reporting and Filters - Create detailed reports on your hardware inventory with new filters, including Manufacturer, Chassis type, Available disk space, Memory installed, and CPU speed.

Additional Language Support – On top of the current 11 languages we already support, we now support Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, and Turkish in the Microsoft Asset Inventory Service console. 

General Administration and Usability Improvements - Numerous user-interface and usability enhancements like the ability to right-click, drag and drop, and create custom views.

If you have an AIS account, we will begin updating your account to reflect the new features and improvements in the weeks following 10/17 and anticipate all updates will be completed before the end of the calendar
year.  No action is required on your part. Five days prior, you will see an alert displayed in the Asset Inventory Service administrator console that indicates the date and time when your subscription will be updated.  You will continue to go to https://manage.microsoft.com/ais to log in to the administrator console

If you want to learn more about AIS check out the MDOP Resource page and the online help page.  You can also check out our AIS videos here.

Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM):

Building on BitLocker in Windows 7, MBAM will help simplify BitLocker provisioning and deployments, improve compliance and reporting, and reduce support costs. To simplify provisioning and deployment, MBAM integrates into your existing Windows 7 deployment process to help automate the encryption process. If you have already deployed Windows 7 but have not enabled BitLocker, you can now have your end users with standard user permissions can start the encryption process. You can also target BitLocker encryption by targeting hardware by make and model, making sure that only machines capable of meeting the encryption policy are encrypted.

To help improve compliance and reporting, MBAM provides reports out of the box that help you understand which machines are encrypted and meet your BitLocker organizational policy. We also provide an alternative to storing BitLocker recovery key information in Active Directory. Machines with the MBAM client will send BitLocker recovery key information to an encrypted SQL database.

MBAM will also help you reduce your support costs by streamlining key recovery for the help desk via a web page that allows the help desk to quickly get the user’s recovery key if they get into BitLocker recovery mode. The help desk no longer needs access to Active Directory. MBAM also creates one time use recovery keys. When a recovery key is retrieved and used, the MBAM client will automatically generate a new recovery key for that PC so that the original key cannot be used to gain access to the machine again.

Microsoft Diagnostic and Recovery Toolkit 7.0 (DaRT):

Building on our previous version to help drive the cost to support Windows based PCs even lower. DaRT 7.0 will speed up recovery and provide IT organizations with more flexible ways to deploy it. In this version we provide flexible deployment options like network boot (PXE), USB, or via the local recovery partition, on top of the CD and DVD method we already have. Just think, you can now walk an end user through the network boot process over the phone and help them troubleshoot their machine without leaving your desk. To make it even easier to not have to visit the user’s desk, DaRT also now includes software based remote control so can securely diagnose and recover PCs. DaRT also now gives you the ability to restrict end-user access to DaRT tools while making these same tools available to you. This is achieved using the remote control feature so end users cannot use the tools without the remote session being active.

Asset Inventory Service 2.0 (AIS):

Last but not least is AIS which is our cloud based asset intelligence solution that translates inventory data into actionable information through advanced software and hardware inventory scanning. In the new version we have improved scalability so that the service can support up to 100,000 clients. We also improved the user interface and localized it into 11 languages. AI 2.0 supports the inventorying of App-V packages, and improved the hardware reporting. As a cloud service we release this outside of the MDOP disc and I posted here that it went live in May.

To learn more about MBAM, DaRT, and AIS checkout the MDOP TechCenter on Springboard.  We also have posted some new videos on many of the MDOP products.  You can find these videos here.

For those of you not familiar with AIS, it provides a comprehensive view of your enterprise's desktop software and hardware environment. AIS helps reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and improve license compliance through advanced software inventory scanning and by translating inventory data into actionable information.

Some of the key changes in AIS 2.0:

·         Improved user interface built on Silverlight and localized into 11 languages

·         Title normalization and version aggregation in software reporting

·         Virtual machine and App-V package support in software and hardware reports

·         Improved Microsoft licensing reports

·         Better hardware reporting and the ability to view the hardware properties of a computer

If you are already using AIS, I recommend that you login at https://manage.microsoft.com/ais and download the updated agent.  You will need to deploy this agent to the computers you want to manage in order for them to report their inventory.

If you are not yet familiar with AIS, you can learn more about it on the MDOP Springboard TechCenter and the AIS online help page.

For an overview of the DaRT 7 Beta release and preview of what features are in this release please see the beta announcement at the Official MDOP Blog and Windows for your Business Blog

This is a public Beta available to everyone that completes the short questionnaire. We are very excited about this release and encourage everyone to download it and try it out. You can sign up and download the beta installer files from the DaRT 7 Connect site.

We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences using the software in your environment. We are collecting feedback using surveys and feedback form on the site.

DaRT 7 Connect Surveys

DaRT 7 Connect Feedback

If you have any issues accessing the DaRT 7 Connect site or would like to have other members of your team have access to the site please contact the?DaRT 7 Beta team at mailto:dart7feedback@microsoft.com

DaRT will be generally available in the third quarter of 2011 as part of the next version of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP).

On top of the announcement, right before lunch, the lead MBAM program manager and I presented details about the product to MMS attendees.  In the session, we talked about MBAM’s ability to help you deploy and provision BitLocker, improve compliance and reporting, and reduce support costs through helpdesk tools and allowing a standard user to perform basic BitLocker tasks.  As part of that session we revealed  how to go to get the beta install files and documentation (note that you need a Windows Live ID) and shared that MBAM will be generally available in the third quarter of 2011.

Now that you can get the beta, we hope that you download it and set it up in your test lab so that you can begin to see how it will help you better manage BitLocker.  If you have any feedback, as you use the beta, we would love to hear it. The best way to share your thoughts with us is to use the feedback tool here. 

From everyone in the MDOP team, thanks for your interest in MBAM.

DaRT 7 is the next generation of this popular product that is built to help drive the cost to support Windows based PCs even lower.  DaRT 7.0 will speed up recovery and provide IT organizations with more flexible ways to deploy it.

Remote diagnostics and recovery

• Software based remoting means IT Admins and their helpdesk staff can securely diagnose and recover PCs with the DaRT tools without ever visiting the user’s PC

Flexible deployment options

• Deploy DaRT via network boot, USB, CD, DVD, or to the local recovery partition
  
• Choose the right deployment option, or combination of options, to fit the needs of your customer’s organization

Increased Customization

• Create DaRT images that restrict end-user access to DaRT tools while making these same tools available to Helpdesk and IT staff

More information can be found on the Springboard blog where I sat down with Stephen Rose for a discussion about the upcoming release.

Customer can sign up today for the DaRT 7 public BETA that will be released in early April.

You can access App-V 4.6 Service Pack1 and MED-V 2.0 as part of MDOP 2011 through the Microsoft Volume Licensing website, MSDN or TechNet.

App-V 4.6 SP1: Application Virtualization Made Easy, Fast and Predictable

As businesses deploy App-V, they convert their traditional applications to App-V virtual applications through a process known as sequencing. In this release, we’ve redesigned the sequencing process to make it even easier for new users to get started quickly. We provide step-by-step guidance for common packaging tasks, like creating a new package, updating a package, or packaging add-ins or middleware. We’ve also added diagnostics to help alert packagers to potential issues before they become problems. App-V 4.6 SP1 is our easiest to use release ever.

“Even people with absolutely no virtualization experience can sequence applications.”

                – Holger Brink, Managing Consultant, Login Consultants

Check out more App-V case studies!

Up until now, the predominant way for App-V customers to share how they’ve packaged particular applications with App-V is with text-based “recipes.” These recipes can be time-consuming to document and to follow. In App-V 4.6 SP1, we’re introducing a new way to create App-V packages and to share packaging knowledge. App-V Package Accelerators allow App-V administrators to automatically create App-V packages from application installation files. App-V Package The sequencing learning curve is eliminated and sequencing time for large, complex applications is slashed. App-V administrators can easily share App-V Package Accelerators instead of recipes.

We will release Package Accelerators for several of our own products, starting today with Microsoft Project 2010. We’ll release others, including Microsoft Office 2010, in April. We’ve also partnered with Adobe to offer a Package Accelerator for Adobe Reader 9.4. There’s more to come.

We’ve also taken many of the App-V sequencing best practices and built them right in to the new Sequencer. We’ve made other things, like sequencing to old-style “8.3” directory names, a relic of the past. Finally, I’m pleased to announce that we are extending support for the App-V read-only shared cache to include RDS as well as VDI scenarios. With this new support, you can save storage space no matter which desktop virtualization technology you choose for server-based computing.

MED-V 2.0: Solving the last mile of application compatibility

Businesses around the globe are adopting Windows 7 and enjoying its rewards. The recent release of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 will accelerate deployment plans. As companies plan their deployment, they'll find that many existing applications will “just work” in Windows 7. Other applications may require upgrades or compatibility shims. Some older applications will be retired or replaced. For those applications that remain – the ones that simply must run on Windows XP – there’s MED-V. MED-V bridges the “last mile” of application compatibility between Windows XP and Windows 7, allowing older applications to run inside Windows XP compatibility workspaces, but still integrate seamlessly into users’ Windows 7 environments.

Don’t confuse MED-V with Microsoft’s consumer and small business compatibility tool, Windows XP Mode. MED-V expands on the capabilities in Windows XP Mode by adding enterprise features, such as the ability to use a custom Windows XP image, automating first time setup and controlling URL redirection for Internet Explorer.

With MED-V 2.0, there’s no dedicated infrastructure. MED-V workspaces are distributed and managed with existing systems, such as System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 or higher.

We’ve also made changes that let you allow your users to save their Windows passwords for seamless sign-on to their MED-V workspace. MED-V 2.0 also supports USB devices, including Smartcard readers.

“MED-V 2.0 is simple to use and fast. Its performance is great, and because it doesn’t require a separate server infrastructure, it can be quickly and easily deployed.”

– Jean Claude Akin, Software Engineer, Systems Certification, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd

Check out more MED-V case studies!

MED-V 2.0 integrates seamlessly into Windows 7, providing automatic publishing of applications from MED-V workspaces to the Windows 7 Start Menu. It also provides My Documents , Desktop, and network printer redirection, allowing legacy applications hosted in MED-V workspaces to work just like locally installed applications when it comes to opening, saving and printing documents.

And we’ve improved your Internet Explorer redirection options. IT administrators can redirect legacy web applications using wildcards (https://*.example.com), sites (https://www.example.com/hr), at the page-level (https://www.example.com/hr/benefits.asp) or by specifying a port (https://vpn.example.com:1234).

Our MVPs are talking about this exciting new release. They’re a fantastic resource for the community and they’re here to help you!

Just getting started? Check out the App-V 4.6 SP1 Trial Guide or the MED-V 2.0 Trial Guide. Need more information about App-V sequencing? Download the App-V 4.6 SP1 Sequencing Guide. You’ll also want to check out the new App-V videos that walk you through some of the new features, and the new MED-V 2.0 video series. For information about all of Microsoft’s Desktop Virtualization solutions, visit the Springboard Desktop Virtualization Zone.

We’re proud of our work and we would love for you to take the next step: download MDOP 2011 today and try App-V 4.6 SP1 and MED-V 2.0 for yourself. I’d love to hear your feedback. If you’re attending the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas, March 21-25, 2011, stop by the Desktop Virtualization booth and say “Hello!”

Dave