14 DAY TRIAL // A new version of the Assessment and Deployment Kit was released in tandem with the first Windows Developer Preview, and Microsoft is also offering additional resources to early adopters.
Case in point: the “Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit Release Notes & Windows Assessment Services User's Guide” download.
” The Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows Developer Preview provides a complete solution for you to evaluate overall computer performance and automate the deployment of the Windows operating system to new computers,” the software giant revealed.
The Assessment and Deployment Kit that’s tailored to Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is only available for download to MSDN subscribers.
The same is not the case for the release notes and guidance. Both are packaged inside the same .ZIP archive that’s up for grabs via the Microsoft Download Center, free of charge of course.
As testers would expect, the release notes deal with all the issues that come with ADK for Windows Developer Preview. Guidance is available on how to deploy and configure Windows AS.
“Assessments are a new set of tools that measure the quality of a computer, including overall performance, energy efficiency, and battery consumption. The results of these assessments are used to diagnose potential problems, ensuring that the hardware and software that you develop are responsive and have a minimal impact to battery life, startup performance, and shutdown time,” the Redmond company added.
“In addition to the Assessment Toolkit, the Windows Performance Toolkit lets you track detailed system information and resource usage. This tool displays real-time data and diagnostics quickly and easily, ensuring that you have a complete view of the system to help you tune performance.”
According to Microsoft, the Windows 8 Assessment and Deployment Kit is designed for OEMs and IT professionals. The software giant points out that this resource now packs some of the deployment tools that were previously offered via the Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit and the Windows Automated Installation Kit.
Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.