Microsoft Windows Thin PC 1.0 is out
Microsoft has released Windows Thin PC (WinTPC), a new Windows 7 version tailored for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) access, making it generally available at the beginning of July 2011. It will be made available only for customers who use Microsoft Software Assurance (SA).
Windows Thin PC, which was announced in January this year, is a smaller footprint, locked down version of Windows 7, which enables customers to install this version of Windows on existing PCs. This enables the customers to repurpose these PCs as thin clients, which can be used to access Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments. PCs with WinTPC installed do not require a Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) license, in contradiction to regular clients who want to access a VDI environment.
The Community Technology Preview of WinTPC was released in March 2011.
In RTM, Microsoft included some new features:
- Keyboard Filter, providing the ability to lock certain keyboard key combinations.
- International Input Method Editor Support, allowing support for international keyboards.
- Key Management Server (KMS)/Multiple Activation Key(MAK) activation mechanism support.
In the future, Microsoft is planning to add Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) support, and in addition, the Citrix Receiver will be made available for WinTPC, so that XenApp and XenDesktop can be made available.
More on this in a future article.
Windows Thin PC RTMs!
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/business/archive/2011/06/07/windows-thin-pc-rtms.aspx