Since the introduction of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, the Redmond company has sold in excess of 10 million units of the package of solutions, and on September 15, the R2 version of MDOP 2008 was released to manufacturing. According to Jameel Khalfan, Microsoft Technical Product Manager, customers will be able to acquire Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2008 R2 starting with the first week of October. Built to be used in conjunction with Windows Vista (now with Service Pack 1), MDOP 2008 R2 is essentially a suite of products designed to catalyze an evolution of the existing relationship between IT and end-users in what Khalfan referred to as traditional desktop infrastructures.

“We know that this is where IT is going, and today’s news plays a critical role in fulfilling that vision. In an Optimized Desktop, a partnership is established in which IT can constructively maintain control over the desktop infrastructure, without getting in the way of the users they’re supporting. With MDOP 2008 R2 and Windows Vista, you get a solution that’s greater than the sum of its parts… a '1+1=3' scenario where IT is controlled and managed, users are empowered and productive, and the pace of business accelerates,” Khalfan revealed.

MDOP 2008 R2 will deliver the recently RTM'ed Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 (formerly Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization), but also the Microsoft Asset Inventory Service, the Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management, the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset, and the Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring.

According to Khalfan, the App- V, AGPM, DEM and DaRT technologies are localized in no less than ten languages, including: Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Russian.

“It’s important to note that this isn’t the end of our development cycle. Rather, it’s another milestone on our continuing mission to make 1 plus 1 always equal 3 (or more!) standard math when it comes to Desktops. Next, in the first half of 2009, we’re planning to release Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V). MED-V, which will be the first Microsoft-branded release of the recently acquired Kidaro technology, will be a key addition to MDOP; it provides a secure, fast, manageable, local hardware virtualization solution that complements App-V, and will serve to further strengthen our 'desktop to datacenter' virtualization story,” Khalfan concluded.

UPDATE (at the readers' express request ): The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) is a suite of technologies delivered in conjunction with Windows Vista Enterprise for the Redmond company's Software Assurance customers. The technologies included in the package span from virtualization, to a more complex Group Policy Management, to tools designed to perform diagnostics and recovery of unusable PCs, as well as monitor errors of Windows Desktops, and even to a service set up to streamline the inventory process of desktop software. I must emphasize that MDOP, and v2008 R2 is by no means an exception, is a package of products aimed exclusively at the corporate environments and is not meant for the general public. The end purpose of MDOP is to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership for Windows Vista Enterprise desktops in IT infrastructures. Microsoft has available a comprehensive view with detailed information about MDOP via this link.