Anilrgowda

One of the things we've done differently with the release of Windows Vista is made it a priority to provide IT professionals with the tools and guidance they need to successfully deploy the new desktop OS as easily, quickly, and with as little cost as possible. Today we are happy to announce that the full set of tools we've created for business to deploy Windows Vista are available for free download. Many businesses have been using beta versions of these tools, and now they are all ready for production use: Here's the full set of tools that we've made available, including the new ones that have just been released today:

• Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007
  BDD 2007 is a set of comprehensive guidance, best practices, and tools that organizations can use to deploy Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system to desktops. Download it here. Part of what BDD includes are two solutions to streamline deployments-a zero-touch solution which requires Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 and a light-touch solution that does not. Since Manu announced BDD on the blog on January 17th, we've already seen more than 60,000 downloads.
  
  If you only download one tool from this list, this is the one to get because it provides access to most of the other tools as well. To download other tools from inside BDD, click on Components in the Information Center section in the left-pane. This will bring up the current list of available components. Click 'Check for updates' on the right-pane to download an updated BDD component list from Microsoft.
• Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.0
  ACT 5.0 is a tool that helps businesses reduce the cost and time needed to resolve potential application compatibility issues encountered when moving to Windows Vista. Download it here. Since Peg announced ACT on the blog on January 30th, we've already seen more than 30,000 downloads. Even if you are still considering when to deploy to Windows Vista, downloading and running ACT on your current PCs is an easy step you can take to start understanding how many applications you will need to migrate and get some data on potential compatibility issues so that you can address them as soon as possible.
• Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 1.0
  This is a brand new tool we are announcing today. With this tool, customers and IT consultants will be able to quickly determine the readiness of existing PCs to run Windows Vista and provide guidance on any necessary hardware and device driver updates. The beauty of this tool is that in can be run on a single PC by an IT admin and get an inventory and readiness assessment of all PCs on the network (up to 5,000). Download it here and read this in-depth post from Hardware Assesment product manager Baldwin Ng.
  
  Don't forget, if you want to tell if just one or a few PCs are compatible with Windows Vista, use the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, also a free download.
• Virtual PC 2007
  Released today, the latest Microsoft hardware virtualization software includes support for hardware-assisted virtualization technology and support for Windows Vista as a host or guest operating system or both. The ability to use Virtual PC 2007 to run up to 4 additional copies of Windows is one of the benefits of Windows Vista Enterprise. Download Virtual PC 2007 here and see our prior post on how to use it.
• Volume Activation 2.0 Tools
  Volume Activation 2.0 is a technology in Windows Vista that requires activation of each Windows Vista license acquired under a Volume License agreement. Based on customer feedback during the beta process, we have added several new tools to give customers more options for how they want to manage the activation process. The new tools we have released are:
  • Windows Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) Multiple Activation Key (MAK) activation requires a one-time communication with Microsoft either independently by each computer, or VAMT can proxy the communication on behalf of multiple computers at once-so that only one needs to access the internet and perform the one-time communication with Microsoft's servers.
  • Key Management Service (KMS) for Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Later KMS enables business customers to host a local service within their environment that can be used to activate Windows Vista without sending information to Microsoft. We created this tool based on feedback from beta customers that wanted to host the KMS service on Windows Server 2003, in addition to the Windows Vista service that was previously available.
  • KMS Management Pack for Management Operations Manager 2005 This tool allows enterprise customers to monitor and report the health of the KMS host that is fulfilling the activation requests within their organization. System administrators can also create alerts for conditions that could indicate KMS outages or impending problems-to help ensure that the activation process happens seamlessly.

If you've already been deploying or piloting Windows Vista you'll think these are very cool tools (trust me). If not, you are probably scratching your head about what MAK and KMS mean. If you want to learn more about volume activation, I encourage you to check out these resources: Volume Activation Licensing Overview and Volume Activation Technical Guidance.

• PowerShell 1.0
  Another tool that we've blogged about was Windows PowerShell, the new command line shell and scripting language. When we first blogged here about PowerShell, it was in beta, but now the final version of PowerShell is available as well. Download PowerShell 1.0 here and also see this post for tips for how to use it to automate tasks in Windows Vista.

What having all of these tools available means is that all of the customers who have been testing beta versions can now begin production deployments. If you have not been actively testing or piloting Windows Vista yet, these tools provide a structured way to get started.
This was the first of many posts we plan to bring you over the next few months on how to plan for and deploy Windows Vista in your organization. Please let us know if there are any topics that you'd like us to cover.



Source:Windows Vista Team Blog : Free Downloads to Deploy and Manage Windows Vista