Friday 29 June 2012

Quest Desktop Authority 9.0 Now Available!

It's been a busy week at Quest, with quite a few new releases and updated. Here is the latest update for Desktop Authority....


Desktop Authority 9.0 is a major release with dozens of new features. 


Here are some of the biggest:  

  • Multiple Editions to suit customer needs. Desktop Authority Standard Edition is the right choice for customers who need user environment management functionality to complement their existing management solution. Desktop Authority Essentials is ideal for basic user environment management or logon script replacement. Desktop Authority Professional is the right choice for companies with limited IT infrastructure.
  • A high-performance console customers can access from anywhere, using only a web browser. Install of a full Windows client just to change a setting or add a user is no longer required. The web console offers seamless support for dozens of concurrent administrators that allows, for example, one admin to edit a single element while another one moves the entire profile to another location.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) support in Validation Logic. Customize configurations based on whether a user is on a physical machine, a Terminal Server, or a virtualized desktop.
  • Internet browser management object with exclusive support for Mozilla Firefox. Administrators can configure the web browser home page, tabbed browser settings, privacy settings, restricted and approved sites and pop-up blocker settings for both Internet Explorer and Firefox (only Desktop Authority offers central configuration of Firefox).
  • Updated settings for Windows 7 and Office 2010 to support common folder redirection for Windows 7 (Music, Videos, Contacts, etc) as well as the new features in Office 2010. IT admins can easily make use of these this functionality and features through Desktop Authority and quickly migrate users to these newer platforms.

You can watch the Quest TV video on how to upgrade here: 


Upgrade to Desktop Authority 9

http://www.quest.com/tv/1691870427001/How-to-Upgrade-to-Desktop-Authority-Version-9/Video/


Customers and evaluators can learn more and download evaluations from:

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Quest Desktop Virtualization Java Connector 7.6 Released


Here is a another quick update on one of the Quest products: The Java Connector for Quest's Desktop Virtualization product suite:

The Connector for Java is a lightweight Connector that operates in conjunction with Web Access to provide simple, web-based access to a Quest Workspace Desktop Virtualization farm. Users without administrative access to their local desktop can use a web browser to launch the Connector for Java when a native Connector cannot be installed. The Connector for Java v 7.6 is being released to support new features in Quest Workspace Desktop Virtualization 7.6.

Below is a simple FAQ for your reading pleasure. As always, if there are any other questions, feel free to call or email me. 

How can I download and install the QWDV Connector for Java?
The vWorkspace Connector for Java, and its documentation,  can be obtained from http://support.quest.com  or http://www.quest.com/desktop-virtualization .
        
What functionality will the QWDV Connector for Java provide?
The Connector for Java works in conjunction with QWDV Web Access to provide users access to virtual desktops and published applications in a QWDV farm.
Listed below are the new features:
  • Support for Forced Broker Authentication - Allows the Connector for Java to connect to a Quest Workspace Desktop Virtualization (formerly vWorkspace) farm by way of a version 7.6 Secure Gateway with Forced Broker Authentication enabled.
  • Support for User Workspace Context - User Workspace Context provides a wealth of information about the context of the user workspace such as latency and bandwidth, type of device used, and Connector version so IT admins can gain valuable insights. These insights can be used when creating advanced targets.
Where can I get the documentation for this release?
The vWorkspace Connector for Java version 7.6 documentation includes the following and can be downloaded from http://support.quest.com.
  • Release notes (containing details of all known issues).
  • User Guide.
  • System Requirements.
  • What’s New.
Can I upgrade from previous versions?
You can upgrade from version 7.5 of the Connector for Java. When upgrading to version 7.6 all existing Web Access web sites will be upgraded with version 7.6 of the Connector for Java.


Enjoy!

Monday 25 June 2012

Flash Compatibility in Internet Explorer 10


As like many of you, I have downloaded the Windows 8 Pre-Release and like a few have installed it on a number of machines, virtual environments and different hardware platforms. My DELL All-in-One is currently is my favorite as it supports a touch interface. That said, the Touch-enabled drivers are not quite there yet (gestures are not currently working) but otherwise the initial experience has been positive.

And now, for the real world: my middle child (of three) was trying to visit a flash based "Barbie dress-up" site (no, not one of my favorites, for those at the back) and things got a little more complicated. The site loaded in the desktop view (currently our default) but would not in the Metro side of things.

Doing a little reading, I found about the IE 10 Compatibility View list on MSDN which reads; 
"While any site can play Flash content in Internet Explorer 10 for the desktop, only sites that are on the Compatibility View (CV) list for Flash can play Flash content within Internet Explorer 10 in the Windows Metro style UI."
And further on;
"Internet Explorer 10 uses the CV list to enable specific sites to run with the Flash Player functionality supported in Internet Explorer 10. Microsoft manages and distributes the CV list and determines which sites go on the list. Decisions regarding how sites that require Flash Player are treated on the CV list are evaluated based on the quality of experience of the site in Internet Explorer 10, taking into consideration factors like performance, responsiveness, touch interaction, security, privacy, and battery life."

So, if you have Flash site, you need to submit it to Microsoft to get it on the CV list, and see it in its wonderful glory on IE10 Metro mode. You can submit your domain and site to Microsoft at the following address; iepo@microsoft.com

If you want to just get things working (my preferred approach) you can also edit the following registry entry; HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Flash\DebugDomain

If you are wondering what WILL NOT work under Flash for IE10, Microsoft has provided a rather long list including;
  • Camera
  • Microphone
  • Printing
  • Feature bookmark (for example, Flash Anchors)
  • Relying on double-click (double-click is consumed by the player, for zoom to fit, and not propagated to the Flash content as a double-click event)
  • Use of rollover and rollout event
  • Relying on P2P (Windows Metro style design guidelines disallows the creation of a socket server)
  • Relying on the following Flash touch APIs: Pan, Zoom, Rotate, Swipe, and PressAndTap

I am not a fan of Flash, but it makes sense for Microsoft to support Flash (with a heavy future focus on HTML5 and JavaScript) and it appears that they have come a reasonable compromise with Flash support on desktop mode and not for Metro.

Read more here:

Developer Guidance for Web Sites with Flash Content in Windows 8

Developer guidance for websites with content for Adobe Flash Player in Windows 8

Friday 22 June 2012

Linkbait: June 2012

It's been a little while since my colleague Carl posted some interesting tid-bits from the web and beyond.

Here is the latest instalment for the month of June.


Platform News
Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 release candidates are available
ebook: Introducing Windows Server 2012 (pdf)
Microsoft has now sold over 600 million licenses of Windows 7
IPv6 in Windows 8

Migration News
TechEd North America recorded sessions are available. Here’s Chris Jackson’s “App Compat for Nerds: Understanding, Troubleshooting, and Fixing Busted Apps”
OfficeConverter lay out 5 steps for successful Office 2010 migration and mass-converting .XLS To .XLSM

Packaging News
WiX v3.6 goes to Release Candidate
System Center 2012 SP1 CTP2 is now available for download.  Has some neat new features such as copying VMs to Azure.
Disable application compatibility to boost performance     ,':(
App-V Error 4615186-1F701639-0000010B Directory Name is Invalid.  Deep-dive by Darwin Sanoy
Advanced WSUS Client Diagnostic tool  
Sysinternals Process Explorer v15.2 has a new column called “Autostart Location”.  The commandline column shows the parameters it was started with but not where the command originated.  Now you can see both.

Browser News
Legacy DX Filters Removed from IE10 Release Preview.  Plugin anyone?

Virtualisation News
The things you have to do to set up the ThinApp Factory Appliance make be glad I use ChangeBASE to batch-virtualise my packages.
XenDesktop supports Lync
The custom actions for the Server App-V Sequencer installer package, to me, seems like a strange thing to publish. “SetSSRSRealTlsAllocCountProperty sets an MSI property which includes the number of TLS slots to allocate in SSRS Injector subsystem.”, etc.
ThinApp Application Notes and Recipes page on their forum (AppDeploy-style)

Cloud
Skydrive is very integrated in Windows 8
The People App in Windows 8
Download the Microsoft Operations Framework Private Cloud beta
Citrix CloudGateway Express 1.2 Implementation Guide
Virtualize the process and move it to the cloud

Unfiled
Visual Studio 2012 Release Candidate
Files are company assets that are equally as valuable as your firewall, applications, switches and laptops.
mactype an aggressive font smoother for Windows for those who feel cleartype is not enough.
Charles Petzold is back with another edition of Programming Windows

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Quest Workspace Desktop Virtualization 7.6 Released

It's been a busy week at Quest, with two new releases. Earlier this week, we saw the Quest ChangeBase release of Version 5.0  (Release 5.0) and now the updated version of vWorkSpace is available.

Some Key features include;

Windows 8 and Server 2012 Support
Quest Workspace Desktop Virtualization (formerly vWorkspace) 7.6 introduces support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 (experimental) to allow customers to enjoy the benefits of the next version of Windows today and prepare for a migration to Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 when Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 are officially released later this year. 

User Workspace Context

Quest Workspace Desktop Virtualization (formerly vWorkspace) 7.6 introduces support for the latest release of Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, SCVMM 2012 and for the latest release of Microsoft SQL Server, SQL 2012 so they can reap the benefits in a vWorkspace environment.

Support for SCVMM 2012 and SQL Server 2012
Quest Workspace Desktop Virtualization (formerly vWorkspace) 7.6 introduces a feature called User Workspace Context that provides a wealth of information about the context of the user workspace such as latency and bandwidth, type of Connector used, type of device used, and vWorkspace Connector version so IT admins can gain valuable insights.  These insights can be used when creating advanced targets. User Workspace Context is a perfect feature to support BYOD initiatives that are a IT priority for many customers today.

Learn More

During the next couple of weeks we will discuss these and all the other new functionality in much more detail right here on our blog, so make sure to stay tuned for that. In the mean while we understand that you will want to have a look for yourself. There’s nothing we’d like more. Here are some things you can do to learn more:


Enjoy!

Monday 18 June 2012

Quest ChangeBASE Version 5.0 Released

We have just released a new major version 5.0 of Quest Workspace™ ChangeBASE.  This release offers huge improvements in ease of use through UI enhancements, a single application installer, new project wizard and better reporting. We are also including capability to assist in application discovery – to remove yet another hurdle for Windows 7 migration.

What’s new?
  • Here are some of the exciting new features, for the complete details see: What’s New

Dashboard Reporting and ROI Calculator
  • New web-based reporting dashboard and overall enhanced UI which provides a vastly improved user experience.  Here is a quick snap-shot
    • The dashboard also includes capability to calculate ROI as seen on the right. 
    • This addition allows a customer to input their own figures for how long the remediation tasks take to do manually, so we can show how much time and effort we are saving them using the interface below.

    • Bulk Export of Reports : Issues Summary reports can be produced in bulk as well as individually, making it easier to obtain a broader picture.

Application Discovery Support
  • A new exciting addition is the bundling of Quest Workspace™ Asset Manager (formerly ScriptLogic Asset Manager) with some pricing options.  This will assist in application discovery and rationalization – a major hurdle in many migration projects.  These new features will not only make migration easier, but also improve ease of business-as-usual application management.

Increase Application Virtualization Coverage
  • Virtualisation is now possible for both App-V 4.6 SP1 and ThinApp

New Project Wizard to Get Started quickly and easily
New users can use the New Project Wizard that steps through the processes involved in getting started with application import, assessment and fixing.

Online Resources

How and when can I get it?
Download will be available via the Quest website NOW: http://www.quest.com/changebase


Friday 1 June 2012

Windows 8 Release Preview Released!


Well well! it looks like the final bits for Windows 8 are ready and we can now download the Consumer Preview. This is a HUGE milestone for Microsoft in its plans for the release of Windows 8. Effectively, with the release of the Consumer Release Preview, we can pretty much be assured that Windows 8 will be ready for the holiday season.

I am still downloading the 3.5 Gig download (I live in the country-side in the UK and download speeds are SLOW) and so out of curiosity , I downloaded the (much smaller) Upgrade assistant.

Here is a screen grab of the first part of the results.

I am always surprised on what I have installed on my machine, but this report did not look too bad.

From these results, we have an old favorite, iTunes and as expected I will have to update my ATI Catalyst video driver (I have a 3 screen setup) 

Having a quick look on the web, you can find these latest drivers (updated yesterday!) here: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Windows8ConsumerPreviewDrivers.aspx

In addition to the short list of applications that were listed as  not compatible with the Windows 8 Release Preview; we have the following sub-set of applications were compatible.



Hurrah! ChangBASE is compatible with Windows 8. And, it was so easy.... Of course I will be having a deeper look here - not quite so sure it will be this easy (but maybe)....

You can find the down-loadable versions of the Windows 8 Preview in the following language based links;

Windows 8 Release Preview (Client)


Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate (Server) Language Packs: http://connect.microsoft.com/site1147/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=43970