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


Posted by Baldwin Ng on Monday, June 30, 2008 6:53 AM 11 Comments

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!!   

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

 

JUN 30
 

Posted by falcon7

Have you started on the toolkit for Windows 7 yet?
JUL 01
 

Posted by Brandon LeBlanc

Sorry falcon7 but its way to early to talk about support for Windows 7 just yet. But if you have feedback for improvements you'd like to see in future versions of the Microsoft Assessment and tPlanning Toolkit we'd like to hear it.

Thanks,

Brandon
JUL 01
 

Posted by SAKRA

by the way..

hi Brandon...i know this is too early and not the correct topic, but how may i be a windows 7 tester? i wanted to test the winvista betas too, but i didnt find the way.

thx in advance!
JUL 01
 

Posted by dovella

when talking about sp1 memory full of comments.

The real people satisfied rarely met control the blog.

People who love trolling expensive car fixed here to every appointment.

rather than close the blog you close your mouth
JUL 01
 

Posted by eponymousnyc

"many of the IT pros out there like you are now spending a lot of time planning for Windows Vista deployments"

Nice timing with this post, now that you have tried to back us into a corner.  Good thing my licensing allows me to install XP on anything that comes in the door, otherwise I'd have to pay a lot to get my machines to run Vista.  It kills me to say this b/c I hate Apple, but Leopard really got it right.  I have a bunch of four year plus old Macs that were ready for the garbage, but after I put Leopard on them, they actually ran faster and got some extra life out of them.  My cfo loved that.  Do you think I can say the same for Vista?  My machine feels 50 lbs lighter since I took Vista off and put XP back on.  Forcing us to buy Vista will not make it a better os.  Work hard on Windows 7 and remember that less is more. Take some pride and realize that Vista is bloatware and has hurt your company's reputation.  It has not just been misunderstood.  When a senior MS exec says he would buy a Mac, you have to see that something's wrong.
JUL 02
 

Posted by dovella

@eponymousnyc

i have some PC

and i use Vista Ultimate in

Asus p4p 800

Intel Pentium IV 2,4 ghz

1,5 gb ddr 400

PC Build to me in 2003+small upgrade

Vista WORK VERY FINE!!!!!!!!!!!

Leopard work in you old Mac :D :D YES??? OK listen me

1) Why only mac?

2) Stopping animation dockbar beacuse slowdown : D:D :D

3) +ram ram ram ram and ram for working with Leop.

4) Leopard crash cover flow, front row, safari crash crash crash, Leop, Black screen. blue screen o.d. freeze freeze freeze, Mail not work

and this is a mac??? Pls get a Vista SP1 boy

stop telling lies

I saw that so many journalists from 4 money were capable of doing a great job antivista
JUL 02
 

Posted by Brandon LeBlanc

Folks, lets keep comments constructive and respectiful here on this thread. There were a few comments left here that were completely out of line and very disrespectful that were deleted. We want to hear your feedback and thoughts - but they need to be constructive.

Let's try to get back to the topic at hand here and that's the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit RTM release. Thanks.

- Brandon
JUL 02
 

Posted by dovella

sorry Brandon  but here are overcoming all the limits of respect with thousands of lies.

and I believe that the truth in respect of Vista  is a constructive comment

- Domenico
JUL 03
 

Posted by eponymousnyc

Sorry if I was rude, but sometimes you have to vent.  I like MS and always have, but this long drawn out train wreck is just sad.  I came here to see if there was any mention of XP's cutoff and got this happy post about how we're all planning to move to Vista.  

Is anybody here activly involved in making Vista or are you just the appointed spokesmen?  I'd love to see some actual designers come here and have their say and face some heat.  It would be nice to see MS make an effort to denend Vista besides some little whitepaper.  Vista gets bashed everywhere, including the Mac comercials and it looks like MS is just giving up without a fight.  Either that or they knew this day would come and most people would have to buy Vista, so they didn't need to do. Sales will increase, but you won't have actually won.  

Like it or not, MS is losing share.  Now I know you're not going anywhere soon, but don't you want to be part of a company's success, instead of a downward moving line on a sales chart.  If you guys really like Vista and want us to like it, soembody needs to step up and not depend on inertia.  Don't be like Steve Jobs was 20 years ago when he just kept saying that Macs weren't too expensive and were selling well even though everyone else was telling him the truth.  Apple barely recovered from it.  People don't like it, are avoiding it and telling others to do the same. What are you going to do about it?
JUL 03
 

Posted by dovella

Dovella In risposta a {0} Download:[In sospeso]

Apple and '30 years that sells PCs and we talk about success with sales to 4.6% (at least with regard to where it is most portable' strong that the Desktop).

Microsoft enters on a nearly saturated market such as MP3 players and acquires 4% of the market with ZUNE in a couple of years and it will be flop???

To you the conclusions
JUL 16
 

Posted by Gabhan

for some reason...

'when the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea..'

...springs to mind
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