Tuesday, 24 March 2009

Microsoft Release Med-V 1.0 Beta

In 2008 Microsoft acquired Kidaro which focused on corporate virtual machine security.

The product was originally named Managed Workspace and has now been renamed to Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualisation (MED-V)

Microsoft officially plans to release the product in H2 2009 as part of the MDOP package which means the end user needs an enterprise agreement with Software Assurance.

The MDOP pack is great in principle but is considered an annoyance to many end users who simply need key elements of MDOP but can't afford or see value in software assurance, MDOP comprises:

  • App-V
  • Asset Inventory
  • Diagnostics and Recovery
  • Group Policy Management
  • System Center Desktop Monitoring
  • Med-V

The download comes as a Virtual PC 2007 virtual machine and its pre-configured to show the use of legacy applications in a Windows XP SP 3 virtual environment on top of a Windows Vista host.

The 1GB package will expire on June 30, 2009.