More than a year after the release of Windows XP, Microsoft is intensifying its push for enterprise adoption of the client
platform, rolling out a Web-based repository of tools to prod sysadmins into
switching operating systems.
Microsoft’s new Desktop Center will shuttle tools to aid IT administrators deploy Windows XP
Professional and Office XP and promises to cut down on the time the systems
can be set up by almost 70 percent.
The resources, which is being freely distributed, is also available as a
Customer Toolkit CD.
More importantly, it sets up a central place for testing application
compatibility in specific enterprises and updating security features on the
new operating system.
Gartner analyst Michael Silver hailed the move by Microsoft, noting that
application compatibility with Windows XP was one of the stumbling blocks
for Windows XP adoption among corporate clients.
“It is not uncommon for
enterprises to have hundreds or thousands of applications to test for
compatibility before deploying a new operating system,” Silver said.
Microsoft has fitted the Windows XP Application Compatibility Toolkit
(ACT) 2.6 on the Desktop Center to cut down on the time used to test and
update applications that run on Windows XP.
“The toolkit not only helps
evaluate and test applications, it also goes a step further by assisting IT
administrators in tailoring adjustments to the applications so they are
optimized for Windows XP,” Microsoft said.
The Web-based portal was also fitted with Microsoft Baseline Security
Analyzer (MBSA) 1.1, a tool that scans corporate desktops for missing
security updates and service packs and also identifies common system
misconfigurations.
Once an analytical scan is done, the MBSA provides an individual XML
security report for each desktop scanned and includes a graphical and
command line interface for IT admins looking to perform local or remote
scans.
Desktop Center also comes with a calculator to measure return on
investment that lets IT managers evaluate the business value of upgrading to
Windows XP. It also includes a System Preparation Tool to to reduce the
number of images required in a deployment; guides for large-scale
deployments and access to TechNet, Microsoft’s security alerts database.Ever since the launch of the heavily-hyped XP platform, enterprise
customers have adopted a wait-and-see approach to migration. The major worry is whether in-house applications
will run smoothly on XP.
However, Microsoft released numbers from a BearingPoint survey that
showed Windows XP was compatible with more than 95 percent of applications
used in nine companies tested. Even for the 5 percent with problems,
Microsoft said there are tweaks and adjustments from the toolkit to address
those issues.