In a recent blog entry, we described how MDOP can help you plan for Windows 7. For example, you can build an inventory to help you choose which applications you want to leave behind, making the transition less cluttered.
After the planning phase, a Windows 7 deployment project moves to the development phase. Whether or not that phase is formal in your organisation, MDOP can help make it easier.
Managing application compatibility is one of the most painful and time-consuming parts of desktop deployment. Most organisations still go through the tedious process of testing each application and mitigating issues.
MDOP provides a different option. Instead of testing and mitigating each application on Windows 7, you can use Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualisation (Med-V) to deploy unverified applications. After you’ve rolled out Windows 7 and caught your breath, you can revisit those applications: testing their compatibility with Windows 7, mitigating any issues you find, and deploying them natively. By using this strategy, you can move to Windows 7 more quickly, skipping much of the pain associated with application compatibility.
Application packaging and deployment is another chore. For a large-scale deployment project, you need to automate the deployment and configuration of many—too many—applications. First, you repackage applications so that they install and configure themselves silently. After testing them, you must decide how to deploy them: by including them in your image or by using products such as Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007.
MDOP has a feature to help improve this aspect of deployment, too: Microsoft Application Virtualisation (App-V). However, the big win for App-V is deployment. Using App-V to deploy applications can be far easier than other deployment methods. For example, after sequencing an application, deploying it is as simple as assigning the application to a user or group. Recalling the application is just as easy, and App-V enables you to update applications without interrupting users.
Microsoft provides numerous free, powerful deployment tools for Windows 7. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is the most notable example. For more information about how MDOP fits into the desktop deployment process, see Optimising Windows 7 Deployment with MDOP.