For those of you who haven't been following all of the Microsoft acquisitions as of late, Uncle Bill and company have made a few very key purchases, in my opinion:

April 26, 2006 - Microsoft announces the intention to purchase AssetMetrix. AssetMetrix focuses on software licensing and asset tracking, and has a nifty plugin to SMS

May 22, 2006 - Microsoft announces the intention to purchase Softricity. Softricity provides application virtualization capabilities and delivery of virtualized applications through SMS to both Windows Desktops and Terminal Servers.

July 18, 2006 - Microsoft announces the acquisition of Winternals. Winternals provides tools to repair unbootable or locked out systems, restore lost data, remove malware, etc

October 2, 2006, Microsoft announces the acquisition of DesktopStandard. Since this is a GP forum, I won't go into the details of what DesktopStandard offers. ;-)


What makes these acquisitions all the more impressive is Microsoft is packaging all four of these technologies into one product offering, the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, and giving it away for next to nothing for customers with software assurance. It's a bargain at $10/desktop/year!!

To me, this is simply amazing, and will make life so much easier for all of the people who struggle with managing the enterprise desktop. The product offerings from Softricity alone make it worth the cost. I simply can't say how amazing this is. That, and I'm really a HUGE fan of Softgrid.

Here's the link:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/optimizeddesktop.mspx

Read all about it there!!!!! Happy days!!!!!