Futurecat - Michael Karek

In a few previous blog posts I’ve done over the last couple months, I talked about or mentioned the awesome Games for Windows – LIVE game Batman: Arkham Asylum. In early December, we introduced Games on Demand for Games for Windows – LIVE with Batman: Arkham Asylum as one of the showcase titles. Today, Batman: Arkham Asylum officially kicks off a month of sales for game titles on Games on Demand! And these sales are going to be hot. How hot? Well, Batman: Arkham Asylum is on sale today at 75% off the regular price putting the game at only $12.49 (USD). This deal for Batman: Arkham Asylum goes to March 1st 10am PST.

To download Batman: Arkham Asylum, you need to have the latest Games for Windows – Live client installed on your PC. You can download the latest version here.

As I said above, this deal for Batman: Arkham Asylum officially kicks off a month of sweet deals on games offered through Games on Demand on Games for Windows – LIVE. At the end of each week throughout March, a new deal will hit – so keep your eyes peeled on www.gamesforwindows.com for those deals as they hit.

One more thing – the SideWinder Gaming folks will be giving away a new SideWinder X4 keyboard (or maybe 3) via their Twitter account. The SideWinder X4 isn’t out yet so this could be your change to get one before anyone else!

There’s a new Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) available from Microsoft to help administrators manage Multiple Activation Key (MAK) activation for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The way MAK activation works is that the key must be installed on the end system (there are a number of ways to do this – see our latest TechNet Webcast for more details and demos) and then that system is activated with the Microsoft-hosted activation and validation services either online or over the phone. If you are activating one system with MAK, the effort required is minimal. However, if you want to MAK activate multiple systems or transition between activation methods (i.e. MAK to KMS, KMS to MAK, etc.) it gets a bit more complicated. VAMT can help with that.

VAMT uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to communicate with end-systems and provides the following features to help manage activation:

• Track and administer multiple MAK keys and remaining activations
• Discover systems via IP address, computer name, Workgroup or Active Directory membership
• View current activation status for Windows Vista (and later) and Windows Server 2008 (and later) operating systems – includes data such as license state, Windows edition, and the last 5 of the product key installed on the end system
• Transition systems between MAK and KMS activation (and vice versa)
• Perform activation/reactivation using cached data (i.e. local reactivation)

The current version of VAMT (1.2) is part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7. Unlike previous editions, VAMT 1.2 is only available in the Windows AIK and is not published as a standalone download.

The primary difference between VAMT 1.1 and 1.2 is the added support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. If you are using an earlier version of VAMT, you’ll need to install VAMT 1.2 to manage MAK keys and activations for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. You will first need to uninstall the older version of VAMT and then install VAMT 1.2 as part of the Windows AIK. Your current inventory/key data can be saved in a Computer Information List (CIL) file (XML) and opened in the new version. No need to re-enter any keys or rebuild your computer list.

An updated version of VAMT (VAMT 2.0) is currently in beta and expected to release in the first quarter of this year. VAMT 2.0 is a managed MMC plug-in and will offer a number of new features:

• Support for the upcoming Office 2010 release
• Support for additional product key types, such as KMS keys
• Additional computer search capabilities (LDAP query)
• Command Line Interface that can be scripted to run VAMT tasks without the interactive UI

Download the beta today and give it a try.

No matter the version you are using, VAMT can help with several management and tracking activities related to product activation in your environment.

Until next time!

- Jodi

Continuing the series with our guest blogger, Jeremy Chapman.

As with any IT project, the first part of planning is about building a plan. There are several things you’ll want to accomplish with a pilot and depending on your organization, the importance of each validation area will vary. I think of the pilot as trying to achieve the following key tasks

1. Technology validation. This not only validates the desktop environment you are delivering, but also how you deliver it. This covers everything from inventorying current users’ desktops, to imaging, applications and deployment technologies.
2. Process validation. Process validation is ultimately for ensuring that you have covered all bases for the project and implementation infrastructure, while making sure that you have the right people and resources in place for the production rollout.
3. User validation. User validation is not about validating the user’s abilities, but instead it gauges the impacts specific to the deployment process, new desktop environment and especially application experience.

 
Once you have the project goals in mind, there are many ways to execute the pilot in minimize user disruption. The idea is to start small and gradually increase the number of pilot seats – ensuring that you have an adequate representation of users, hardware types and sites (or geographic locations). Now is the time to document a plan for rolling out the pilot. You will also want to define success criteria relatively early in the process and what should constitute sign off for each phase. This typically means the number of issues and issue severity that you are willing to live with during each phase – recognizing that things should improve as you get closer to the production deployment. The concept of severity is important here as with any testing. You can use the following as a sample guideline for classifying severity:

• Severity 1. A fatal error, or a critical fix is needed before production
• Severity 2. Error is non-fatal, but it still needs to be fixed before production
• Severity 3. A fix isn’t required before production deployment
• Severity 4. Generally a nitpick, does not affect usage, performance or the average user, but somebody had to log it

Your quality gates should reflect these severity levels and include some count or measure for success. These numbers should get better as you approach production deployment. Here are a couple of examples:

• System performance. Were the desktop computers successfully migrated? The target for success is that 90 percent of all desktop computers migrated received only severity 3 or 4 issues.
• User satisfaction. How satisfied are the users with the outcome of the migration? Were all of the authorized data and settings migrated? Are their new installations usable? Did they need to call the help desk? How much downtime did they experience? Severity is can be judged individually per question above – you might want to stick with the 90% 
• Operations readiness. How satisfied is information technology (IT) Operations with how the pilot went? Were there critical issues that had to be resolved? Success in this case might be if more than 10% of users were dissatisfied with the delivery, service and issue resolutions.

By now you should have project goals, a system for assigning and prioritizing issues and a few quality gates defined for sign-off when moving up phases. Now is the time when we define the high level phases for the project with timelines and who is targeted per phase. I’ll save that for Part 3 of this blog series though.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading,

Jeremy Chapman

Also this Friday, Genuine Windows’ Joe Williams will be appearing live on This Week in Law, a weekly online interview show hosted by Denise Howell.  Joe will be discussing the recent Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7. 

Date/Time:  Friday, February 26, 2010 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) 

Location: Online webcast or IRC channel 

Hope you can tune in!  

- Jodi

IT professionals – there’s another TechNet activation issues planned for this Friday:

Title:  TechNet Webcast: Troubleshooting Activation Issues with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Overview: Product activation is a critical part of Windows operating system deployment. Do you know how to ensure that your Key Management Service (KMS) is working before deploying? What about troubleshooting issues with activation? In this webcast, we focus on resolving some of the most common issues with Windows product activation in enterprise environments. Join us to learn the steps for troubleshooting the most common product activation and validation issues. We provide proactive guidance and the latest updates on Volume Activation for the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems.

Date/Time:  Friday, February 26, 2010 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) 

Location: Online webcast

Duration:  60 Minutes 

Presenters: Chris Jolley, Group Marketing Manager, Microsoft Corporation and Ty Balascio, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Hope you can make it!

– Jodi

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Windows Live Messenger is usually instant messaging – bouncing short text messages back and forth. But there are tons of things we’ve built into Messenger to make that experience more meaningful, and closer to a real face-to-face interaction. My name is Piero Sierra, and I’m the Group Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail. Today I’m going to talk about how we’ve engineered Messenger to help people stay connected with each other in more meaningful ways.

Web-based social networks have had huge growth lately, and they’re a great way to share and stay informed about what everyone that you know is up to. They let you reach out to large groups of people, including friends and family, but your social network usually also includes a broad group of acquaintances, co-workers, and people from your past that you may no longer be very close to. Messenger, on the other hand, is about the people that matter most to you – the ones you talk with frequently and share more personal moments with.

For several years now, this has been our North Star in building Messenger – helping people stay connected to their closest friends and express themselves in meaningful ways. I’d like to tell you a little more about how we’re doing that.

First, a personal anecdote:

Texting in the Triassic era

My first year in college I discovered the power of UNIX-based ntalk. It was a simple text-based program that allowed two users to send text messages to each other in real time. I remember loving how much faster and more conversational it felt than e-mail (go PINE!). I spent many late nights ntalking with friends and eating cold pizza. But there were downsides too. Because ntalk split the screen between the two users, it was hard to tell in what order the messages had arrived. And worse, ntalk was so “real time” that it would show recipients each character as it was typed. Needless to say, this led to some horribly embarrassing situations as I would start typing something, then change my mind and erase it – live. Plus, there was no friends list, or any way to know if a friend was online.

A more meaningful conversation

Instant messaging has grown up a lot since then, with major IM clients offering a rich set of features. For Windows Live Messenger, this includes a contact list with display pictures, status messages, and a presence indicator (to show when your friends are online), offline messaging, interoperability with mobile and SMS, and even the ability to chat with people on other networks.

Even though sending text remains the backbone of Messenger, over the years it has gone beyond text in ways that make communication more natural and intimate.

Some key stats

Our goal is to allow you to have deeper, more meaningful conversations in Messenger. So how do we measure our success? One key metric we track is conversation length – having a longer conversation means you’re generally going beyond lightweight exchanges of messages like “Are you coming?”

We also look at voice and video (our closest approximation to a true conversation), and how people interact with each other through photos. Some numbers:

• The average length of a Messenger session (a conversation) is 9-11 minutes
• About 59% of sessions are over 5 minutes, with about 10% over 20 minutes long
• 1.6 billion sessions per month are over 30 minutes long
• People use Messenger to exchange over 380 million photos a month —over 4.5 billion photos a year (this is in addition to the tens of billions of photos people also share each month via Windows Live SkyDrive and Hotmail)
• Messenger users have 230 million voice & video conversations per month
• Average voice session length is about 18.2 minutes
• Average video session length is about 13.3 minutes
• 9% of video calls and 13% of voice calls are longer than 1 hour
• Usage of international voice and video sessions differ geographically. Brazilians use voice & video only 13% of the time for international connections while users in other countries, such as Spain or Germany, use voice and video 50-75% of the time for long distance chats with friends and family.

Following are a few examples of Messenger features that we’ve built to help people connect with their close friends in more meaningful ways. Some of these have been around for years, and some were introduced in the most recent version of Messenger.

Typing indicator

This is a very simple feature, but is really important to keep conversations flowing naturally.

In the real world, you typically wait until your friend is done talking before you answer. It’s a very basic social contract. Without a typing indicator, IM conversations feel unnatural, and you and your conversation partner are constantly “typing over each other.” But too much real time information loses the advantages of a written conversation, where people can choose their words carefully, or start a thought and then change their minds and cancel it.

Rather than show you every character I type as I type it, Messenger tells you "Piero is writing…" so that you can wait for me to finish my thought before you jump on to the next topic. You cannot tell what I am typing until I press Enter. Through extensive user testing, we found that this strikes the right balance between privacy and keeping people engaged with the conversation.

Emoticons, winks & nudges

Conveying emotions with text was challenging in the old days, especially with IM, where speed is of the essence. So users evolved a terse IM lingo with expressions like LOL, BRB, TTYL, etc. Messenger extends this concept with a set of animated emoticons, some of which have become almost iconic:

(Here’s a handy reference table with keyboard shortcuts for you power users)

In 2005 we added “winks” – little animations you can share with your friends. Messenger users exchange about 240 million winks a month.

Finally, PCs are great for multi-tasking, which means sometimes the person you’re talking to is not staring at the chat window. But in more recent versions of Messenger, you’ve been able to get the attention of your distracted friends using the "nudge" feature. Clicking the little nudge button (  ) shakes the IM window and plays a little “wake up buddy!” sound that is sure to get attention. To protect you from overzealous nudgers, we’ve limited use of the nudge to every 15 seconds or so.

Sharing photos

For years now, you’ve been able to exchange files while you IM. But when we looked at the data, we found that the vast majority of files that people exchanged were photos. So in 2009 we introduced simpler, more fun ways to share photos. Now you can just drag your photos into a conversation, and the chat window transforms itself into a shared slide show. You and your friend see the same photo at the same time – if you advance the slide show, it advances for your friend, and vice-versa.

When designing this, the team wrestled with whether to enable automatic acceptance of incoming photos. Sharing files in Messenger had always required you to first “accept” the transfer, and then pick a location to save the file. But this felt too cumbersome. Our goal was to mimic what people do when sitting together and looking at a photo album.

So we tested this extensively in our usability labs and with our Beta users. What we found is that there is an implicit social contract between people engaged in an IM conversation. We found that during IM the frame of the conversation window virtually disappears, as people connect emotionally with their friend on the other side. Unlike e-mail, only your actual friend can send you things, and if a friend is annoying or inappropriate, you can simply block or delete them. So we decided it was worth the risk to automatically accept incoming photos and immediately display them, like so:

Of course we provide an option for you to opt out of this behavior:

But since we launched this feature in 2009 we’ve found very few people opt out, and the feedback we have heard on this feature has been super positive. Expect more live sharing features like this in our upcoming releases.

Personal expression

In a similar spirit, we wanted to offer a way for you to express your real personality and your shifting moods. Internally, our team distinguishes between customization (customizing something for yourself) and personal expression (customizing how other people see you). In the past, like many other IM programs, Messenger had focused on creating “skins” – a quick way to customize the appearance of the program. But our data showed very few people took advantage of it. So in 2009 we shifted our focus towards personal expression.

We did this by making it very easy for you to pick a background scene, user tile, and status message that your friends will see when they interact with you. For example:

The key difference between this and a “skin” is that my Valentine’s Day scene, user tile, and status message are visible to others when they see me in their friends list or chat with me:

Voice & video chat

Of course, the ultimate representation of an actual conversation is to see and hear the person on the other end. Messenger users are addicted to voice and video—they use this feature 230 million times a month, for everything from socializing to staying in touch with relatives and friends abroad. Over the years, we’ve seen a switch away from a simple voice channel towards full-blown video IM. Today, 81% of the voice calls initiated in Messenger also include video.

For Messenger 2009 we decided to focus on improving video setup time and video quality.

Setting up a video call can be tricky. The two computers involved in the call need to negotiate on how to best complete the call, what quality settings to use, how to connect through firewalls and NATs, etc. But when you start a video chat with a friend, you want to see them immediately. There’s nothing worse than sitting there waiting for the call to connect. In Messenger 2009 we reduced average call setup time by 50%, from about 24 seconds to 12. We did this by reducing and consolidating unnecessary data round-trips, and switching the code to use our peer-to-peer IM channel instead of a custom channel.

To improve quality, we introduced VGA resolution support (640×480) for crisper full-screen conversations. This resolution is in line with the broader web camera ecosystem, though over time we expect this to go even higher, as more people get HD cameras. We also updated our compression algorithms to improve the image quality. We put special focus on algorithms that adapt to fluctuating network conditions. For example:

• Typically, people sit mostly still in front of their webcam. Where motion occurs, like around the eyes and face, or in gestures, it’s important that the video feed can keep up with it. To do this, our code looks for parts of the image that are moving rapidly, and focuses more quality and bandwidth on those. If you wave your hand on screen, we send more information about your hand than the rest of your face, or the wall behind you.
• Because most people are sitting in front of a static background, we run an algorithm that detects the outline of the person, and then send more information about that border than we do for the background. This makes hair, clothes and other edge features look more crisp, while saving bandwidth overall.
• Web cameras are often set in poorly lit environments. They’re rarely somewhere with professional lighting like a TV studio. So we developed special algorithms to compensate for poor color and white balance and make skin tones look more natural.

These are just a few of the ways we’ve been working to improve the voice and video experience so that connecting with friends and family in Messenger feels more like they’re in the room with you.

Stay tuned for more posts on how we’re continuing to evolve the Messenger experience.

- Piero

Back in October 2009 we talked about upcoming dates for end of support for certain Windows XP and Windows Vista versions. Those dates are getting closer and this is the time to remind customers running these versions that there is a need to take an action.

If you or someone you know is running Windows Vista with no services packs installed (also known as Windows Vista RTM or SP0), please use Windows Update to install the latest service pack available – Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (note you’ll need to install Service Pack 1 first). We also recommend checking out our latest Windows release – Windows 7. On April 13th, 2010, Windows Vista RTM will reach the end of support.

And on July 13th, 2010, all versions of Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 will also reach the end of support. We recommend those of you still on Windows XP SP2 to install the latest service pack available via the Microsoft Update website – Windows XP Service Pack 3 – or look at moving to Windows 7. Folks still on Windows 2000 will need to look at moving to a more current version of Windows, such as Windows 7.

For more information on the end of support for these Windows releases, see this blog post on the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Blog. This post also provides guidance for businesses of all sizes. Or you can visit this page on Windows.com.

Keeping your PC up to date and as safe as possible is something that people need to think about beyond just being on the latest service pack. I want to remind everyone of the benefits of keeping Windows Update turned on. Through Windows Update, not only are you provided with the latest security updates and service packs for Windows at no cost, but also the latest updates to products such as Internet Explorer 8 and Microsoft Security Essentials.

Back in November, we officially announced a new Windows product called Windows MultiPoint Server 2010. Today we are launching Windows MultiPoint Server around the world. Windows MultiPoint Server is available for purchase through OEMs and Microsoft Academic Volume Licensing (VL) customers on March 1, for schools and educational institutions (mainly for use in classrooms, labs and libraries).

Windows MultiPoint Server, based off Windows Server 2008 R2, is designed to enable multiple people (students) to share access to a single host PC through a “station” simultaneously. A station is a device that connects to a host PC running Windows MultiPoint Server via USB and connects to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Windows MultiPoint Server shares out an “instance” of Windows to a specific station via Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services) technology built in to Windows Server 2008 R2. If you have 1 host PC with Windows MultiPoint Server, you can support up to 10 people connecting to it and using it at the same time (hardware permitting of course). Each person independently controls familiar Windows experience.

Non-technical professionals, such as teachers, will find the setup relatively easy with a “console” application designed to manage all of the stations connected to that PC, instead of relying on IT support.

As you have probably heard me mention before, our goal is to provide choice and flexibility with our products to meet the specific demands for different customer needs. In the case of Windows MultiPoint Server, we heard from around the world that teachers want to provide more students with access to computers and spend more time teaching. Also, many education institutions don’t have the funds to support offering up-to-date technology that can serve as a companion to the learning experience. We created Windows MultiPoint Server to address the needs of teachers and students in an affordable way to education institutions.

Windows MultiPoint Server is the lead product in a series of Shared Resource Computing technologies being released by Microsoft under the MultiPoint brand. We believe that specific scenarios such as school labs, classrooms and libraries can greatly benefit from Shared Resource Computing. Other MultiPoint technologies include the MultiPoint Mouse SDK and Mouse Mischief.

Now let me talk about a little more about the Windows experience for people using Windows MultiPoint Server. Windows MultiPoint Server is specifically designed to offer the features and functionality of Windows that are needed in a shared resource computing scenario. For instance, compared with Windows 7, not all of the features will be enabled through Windows MultiPoint Server. For example, users will not experience Aero (Glass), Windows Flip, Task Bar Previews, and will be unable to use Windows Media Center. Also, Windows MultiPoint Server is not designed for mobility, and it has other limitations. Again, Windows MultiPoint Server is specifically designed to bring more modern computing access to education institutions with constrained budgets.

For more information on today’s launch of Windows MultiPoint Server 2010, including what OEMs are making products available for Windows MultiPoint Server, see this press release on the Microsoft News Center.

It’s exciting to see us offering a product with familiar Windows experience that will enable schools to affordably use modern technology in education.

This week we recently released a new version of MDOP that includes six virtualization and management tools for Windows desktops. Along with the new App-v 4.6, we have also released the MED-V v1 SP1 Release Candidate, with support for Windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit for download. It’s final release is expected on April 2010 as mentioned in the MDOP blog announcement earlier this week.

I had the opportunity to sit and chat with Ran Oelgiesser, Sr. Product Manager for MED-V and have him answer some of the common questions about MED-V:

Stephen: Why would I look to use MED-V?
Ran: When you upgrade from Windows XP (or even Windows 2000) to Windows 7, you need to map and test all your business applications. It’s not a secret that some applications will not work on Windows 7, and while there are many ways to fix them, there is always a small set of applications that are more stubborn and could not be fixed.

So what MED-V (or in length – Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization) does, is running a virtual Windows environment (Windows XP or Windows 2000) to enable all those incompatible applications to operate in their “native” environment. And the great thing is that the user just launches those applications from his Windows 7 start menu and gets a completely seamless experience.

Stephen: So I can deploy Windows 7 without all of my critical applications being 100% compatible?
Ran: Yes. That’s one of the major advantages that MED-V brings in the way you think about deploying a new operating system. In the past you could not take advantage of any of the new features and productivity gains of a new OS until you had all of your critical applications 100% compatible or fixed. With MED-V you can deploy Windows 7 even if you have a few critical applications that still require Windows XP.

Stephen: So should you do that for any application that does not run in Windows 7?
Ran: Actually no. I’d recommend that you first try to run the application in compatibility mode and use all the tools we provide to fix the application. A great place to start is in the Springboard App Compat Zone. Only when applications cannot be fixed, you should use MED-V. Even then, I wouldn’t keep the application in a virtual Windows XP environment forever. MED-V should be used as transitional solution – eventually you should be able to upgrade the application to a new version that support Windows 7 (or if it’s a home-grown application, fix it).

Stephen: When I deploy MED-V, does the end user see and interact with a virtual machine?
Ran: No, to the end user the applications running in Windows XP look and feel like they are installed directly on Windows 7. Users will see icons for their applications in the Windows 7 start menu, they can even create shortcuts for them on the desktop. When they launch the application it appears as a window, they never see the Windows XP virtual machine running in the background. Their applications just work. A great way to see this in action is in this quick MED-V demo walkthrough.

Stephen: Is this solution good for client applications or also for web applications?
Ran: It could also be a solution for web applications. In some cases internal portals and web applications still require Internet Explorer 6 to function properly, and this gives you a great way to run only those web sites in Internet Explorer 6, within the virtual Windows XP environment, while all other sites run in Internet Explorer 8 – Again it’s all seamless and hidden from the user – you define which URLs require Internet Explorer 6.

Stephen: This sounds a lot like the Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 – what’s the difference between the two?
Ran: It is and it isn’t… Windows XP Mode, is a preconfigured Windows XP environment that is available for customers who have Windows 7 Pro and above. It’s great as long as you are ok with manually configuring each virtual environment separately. When it comes to larger deployments, you’d need a way to deploy those virtual machines, provision and customize them accordingly, control their settings centrally and finally support and troubleshoot. That’s what MED‑V is providing… It adds everything an IT Professional needs to deploy and manage virtual PCs in his or her environment. That includes: virtual image deployment and customization, policy-based provisioning, control and centralized monitoring.

Stephen: Will MED-V require Hardware Assisted Virtualization CPU (e.g. Intel vPro/VT or AMD-V) like Windows XP Mode does?
Ran: No. MED-V V1 SP1 is based on a version of Virtual PC 2007 for Windows 7 that works on any desktop hardware. Even with next version of MED-V (2.0), we will benefit from Hardware Assisted Virtualization if available – but MED-V will not require them.

Stephen: How can I get MED-V?
Ran: MED-V is part of MDOP for Software Assurance customers, which contains five other products besides MED-V. We recently published an article about 7 reasons for deploying MDOP you can learn more about some of the other challenges MDOP helps you solve. You can also get the beta software at Connect even if you are not an MDOP customer yet…

Stephen: What are the typical steps in deploying MED-V?
Ran: Sure.The image deployment is pretty simple.

1. Create a base Windows XP (SP3 recommended) virtual image – similar to a standard desktop image – no need to include all applications the user is ever going to need
2. Distribute MED-V and Virtual PC software (standard MSI files) via System Center Configuration Manager or any other software distribution infrastructure
3. Use MED-V administration console to package the virtual image
4. Distribute the package via System Center Configuration Manager (or again – any other infrastructure for that matter) to a predefined path on the client
5. MED-V will use your settings to join the virtual image to your Active Directory domain
6. The virtual image can now be managed and patched as any other domain-joined desktop
7. Specifically you can deliver applications according to the user needs with System Center, App-V or any other management software

The one component you’d need to install is a Windows Server 2008 R2 server for authenticating and provisioning the Windows XP applications based on Active Directory users and groups. That’s the main control center for MED-V deployments.

Stephen: Where can I learn more on deploying MED-V?
Ran: Best is to start with the Quick Start guide (and the Quick start policy XML file) to create a test environment and explore the key product features.Once you are done you could move on to the Evaluation Guide to learn about the deployment and management options of MED-V. A set of “how-to” videos are available for IT Administrator self-training as well as a ton of content in the MDOP Med-V area on Springboard.

Lenovo has announced several new ThinkPad-branded Windows 7 PCs today.

The ThinkPad X201 features an extremely thin and light design, but doesn’t sacrifice in performance. The X201 comes with a normal volt Intel Core Processor (some models to ship with Intel Core™ i7-620M at 2.66GHz with Turbo Boost) instead of a low volt processor but is able to offer long battery life at around 11 hours with a 9-cell battery. The ThinkPad X201s is what Lenovo is calling a “featherweight fighter” weighing in less than 2.5 pounds. The ThinkPad X201 will cost $1,199, and the ThinkPad X201s will cost $1,599.

The ThinkPad X201Tablet is designed for business computing, features a 12.1 inch capacitive multitouch screen and comes with Lenovo’s SimpleTap application. You can see a demo of SimpleTap here. The X201 Tablet can be used with a pen or just your finger. This tablet comes with the latest Intel Core Processors, security tools such as a fingerprint reader (Windows Biometric Framework awesomeness!) and WiMAX, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. Fun fact: did you know the first ThinkPad was a tablet? I did not know that. Lenovo has a long history with tablets. The ThinkPad X201 Tablet will cost $1,549.

They are also introducing 2 new ThinkPad W Series models: the ThinkPad W701 and ThinkPad W701ds. These 2 new W Series ThinkPads come with Intel Core i7 Processors and NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800 and 3800 Series GPUs. These 17 inch PCs are perfect for design professionals and digital content creators as they feature optional built-in color calibrator to make sure the most accurate colors are displayed. These PCs can also be configured with an optional built-in WACOM digitizer and pen as well. The ThinkPad W701 costs $2,199 and the W701ds costs $3,799.

For more information on these new PCs, click here to read Lenovo’s press release.

These PCs will be available beginning in March.