Essential Tool for the Job - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 for Windows Vista (RTM Announcement)

Baldwin Ng — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:53:00 GMT

RTM Announcement - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1

Hello,

It's been a few months since I last blogged about the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 - formerly known as WVHA or Windows Vista Hardware Assessment. Today, I'd like to announce the RTM release of this tool with new capabilities including desktop security assessment, Hyper-V virtualization assessment, and more.

As you know, many of the IT pros out there like you are now spending a lot of time planning for Windows Vista deployments. But many question and challenges remain:

Are my existing PCs compatible to Windows Vista when it comes to Hardware and Device Compatibility?
Will my PCs have BIOS issues after the upgrade to Windows Vista?
Which of my PCs are ripe for an upgrade to Windows Vista? (e.g. CPU too old so it's time to replace them; or just add 512MB system memory and the PCs would be Windows Vista capable!)
What kind of software has been installed?
Are all of my PCs secure? Is Windows Security Center installed? Do they have Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware software installed? How about Windows Firewall settings?
What about application virtualization readiness?

The MAP Toolkit 3.1 is designed to address all of these desktop-side issues from a single tool! The MAP Toolkit is a platform of tools that combines the strength of agentless discovery and report generation capabilities from the previous generation (Windows Vista Hardware Assessment). The pie-chart below is part of an auto-generated readiness report from the MAP Toolkit and it illustrates the level of hardware readiness for Windows Vista upgrades across the desktop infrastructure.

As a matter of fact, if you view the latest MAP Team RTM blog post from yesterday, you will find that the MAP Toolkit 3.1 also havs many server-side and virtualization features including a Hyper-V virtualization candidates assessment and SQL Server discovery!!

Download Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 RTM Version
Read documentation about MAP operations on TechNet
Learn tips and see video demos on MAP Team Blog
Join MAP Fan Clubs on TechNet Forum or Facebook
Very importantly, download other Windows Vista Solution Accelerators like the MDT Toolkit, Windows Vista Security Guide and more as well!

Cheers!
Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators - Virtualization Lead)

Announcing the Windows Experience Blog

Nick White — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:07:00 GMT

You may have noticed a small change in the look of our blog today in the addition of "The Windows Experience" label to the header above the Windows Vista News section. As you will surely surmise, today we're launching a new sister blog to compliment the Windows Vista Team blog; and, of course, this new blog will be called The Windows Experience. The new blog will be managed by my colleague Brandon LeBlanc and will document his use of Windows Vista in various scenarios (think hi-def video, photography, virtualization, networking, etc), using video and photos to convey his experiences as much as possible.

The aim of the two blogs is to jointly illustrate the what, why and how of Windows Vista while continuing to generate conversations about the product and respond to the questions and concerns of you, the community. So not to worry, the existing Team blog's reason for being and my role in it do change.

We're excited about this new development and hope you will be, too. Your comments are always welcome, so feel free to let us know what you think as we move forward (once we've got some material on the new blog, that is). In the meantime, please join me in welcoming Brandon and head over to the new Windows Experience blog to check out his initial post.

Windows Vista Team Blog : Experience Blog

Essential Tool for the Job - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 for Windows Vista (RTM Announcement)

Announcing the Windows Experience Blog