Windows Vista Hardware Assessment version 2.1 has been updated and is up for grabs straight from Microsoft. The solution accelerator is but a piece of the puzzle the Redmond company is offering both home and corporate users in order to streamline the migration to its latest Windows client. Essentially, the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment is the equivalent of the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, with the mention that the latter is addressed at home users while the first is a solution accelerator designed to act as an upgrade incentive and a part of the infrastructure set in place to enable smooth transitions to Windows Vista and to the Office 2007 System.

"The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment is a tool that will find computers on a network and perform a detailed inventory of the computers using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). Through use of the detailed inventory data, the tool will assess and report whether the computers can run Windows Vista or the 2007 Microsoft Office system, where to find drivers for devices on the computers, and provide recommendations for hardware upgrades, where appropriate," Microsoft revealed in the product's overview.
Windows Vista Hardware Assessment acts as a network-wide tool and is capable of evaluating up to 25,000 computers in a single scan and in accordance with common workgroups and domains for the target machines. Version 2.1 of the solution accelerator was introduced in late August 2007, expanding the tool into no less than six localized languages. The tool is available as a free download, and Microsoft has positioned it as an essential ingredient of enterprise level migration projects to Vista and Office 2007.

"The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 solution accelerator is localized in North American English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. It will display the language according to the operating system language of the PC where the tool is installed. This tool does not require the deployment of agent software on the computers being inventoried and assessed. It provides a secure, quick, and easy way to determine which computers, in a networked environment, are ready for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system software," Microsoft added.