Windows 7 web chat recap
Yesterday On September 30th I participated in a Live Meeting with Tim Vander Kooi from Culminis covering the business reasons why Windows 7 is ready and really is the right move for customers of all sizes.
We looked at demos of the Jump List feature (which I cover here) and also the search capabilities from the Start Menu and from within Explorer. We also looked a bit at Bit-Locker and how it can ensure your sensitive data is secure.
There were quite a few questions, and I will update this post after I get to review the notes from the show and review and research them further.
One popular question concerned Bit-Locker and Bit-Locker to go and if the technology could be used to encrypt CD/DVD media. This is not a function of Bit-Locker. Primarily because CD media is typically used in Write Once Read Many (WORM) scenarios by business and it is likely that the media will be shared with others. Bit Locker is designed to encrypt the data on a computer hard disk or removable flash drive to ensure that if the device is lost or stolen, the data cannot be used (or misused).
The only reason I can see that an organization might want to use Bit-Locker with CD/DVD media is to encrypt backup or archive copies of their data. This seems a bit like overkill in that the storage of the archived information should be secure removing the need to encrypt the media.
Another popular question was about Group Policy and if Windows 7 Group Policy would work in a Windows 2003 environment. The answer is Yes. Windows 7 supports all of the group policy options available in Windows Server 2003 and a host more. The additional or new items require a download from Microsoft to allow the new Windows 7 Group Policy features, such as preferences to function in an earlier environment. The caveat here is that if you configure the environment to work that way, you must manage Group Policy from a Windows 7 computer until such time when Windows Server 2008 R2 his up and running and can allow management from the server side.
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010
A deployment utility for environments large and small was released recently to aid with rolling out Windows 7. We touched on this briefly in the call and the utility can be downloaded here.
The goal of MDT 2010 is to make the deployment of image based systems easier in any environment. It might not be a great idea in a small environment of 5 computers, but in anything larger than that the creation of images for deployment and rapid repair (redeployment) of systems is a lifesaver.
These were a few of the topics we covered on the Web on 9-30. Please feel free to post additional questions in the comments.
Industry Affiliation Disclosure: I am a 2008 and 2009 recipient of the Microsoft MVP award. This in no way should reflect any bias for or against Microsoft Products. When products are reviewed here, I will discuss them in my own opinion without specific regard for manufacturer.
