14 DAY TRIAL // The Beta development milestone of the next generation of Windows Intune is here, and I just want to clarify something. Don’t call it Windows Intune 2.0. I had a chat yesterday with Alex Heaton, Group Product Manager for Windows Intune, and he stressed that Microsoft is not referring to the next version of Intune as v2.0.
Think about Windows Azure. You haven’t heard the Redmond company talk about Windows Azure 1.0, Windows Azure 2.0 and so on and so forth. Well, Windows Intune branding follows the same trend, it’s also a Cloud-based offering, after all.
The point is that Microsoft will not user version numbers when referring to new Windows Intune iterations. Instead the Redmond company will point to specific releases by the month they go live.
In this sense, the latest testing release is Windows Intune July 2011 Beta and not Windows Intune 2.0 Beta. When it will be finalized and offered to customers, the next version of the service will be christened in accordance with the month it will be released to web.
Windows Intune, in case you haven’t heard already, is Microsoft’s Cloud-based PC management and security offering.
The latest Beta of Windows Intune lets early adopters test a few new features which, according to Heaton, Microsoft introduced in response to user feedback, including the new software distribution capabilities.
Microsoft’s Erwin Visser enumerated some of the key point of Windows Intune’s evolution:
“• Software distribution: One of the most common requests has been software distribution and we’ve worked hard to bring this feature to this beta. With this release, administrators can deploy most Microsoft and third-party updates or software applications to PCs virtually anywhere, without the need for a server infrastructure or physically touching each PC to install the software or update.
• Remote Tasks: This update allows IT to perform tasks, including full scan, quick scan, restart, and update malware definition all from the administration console. If there is an alert for a malware threat for example, administrators can run a scan on the affected PC by simply right-clicking on the PC from the administration console.
• Read-only Access: IT pros and partners can grant select administrators read-only access to the administration console so that they can view PC information as needed, but not perform any tasks.”
Testers can sign-up for Windows Intune Beta and give it a try on up to no more than 10 PCs. They won’t be able to migrate the Windows Intune Beta machines to the final version however. Heaton says that the best way to get the next version of Intune is to subscribe to the existing version and be seamlessly migrated.
As to the RTW deadline for Windows Intune vNext, Microsoft doesn’t have one, I asked. Heaton only made it clear that a new version will ship by the end of 2011, but said that there isn’t much more than he can share at this point in time.