What's the Worth of Free Vista Tools?

The six tools are:

• Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Tool 1.0 Solution Accelerator
• ACT (Application Compatibility Toolkit) 5.0
• KMS (Key Management Service) for Windows Server 2003
• Windows VAMT (Volume Activation Management Tool)
• BDD (Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment) 2007
• Virtual PC 2007

Two tools immediately stand out for their usefulness: ACT 5.0 and KMS for Windows Server 2003. Virtual PC 2007 is another, but that product's treatment will be a separate post.

"ACT is very important, but cannot be the only testing an organization does," said Michael Silver, a research vice president with Gartner. "Beta releases have shown false negatives—apps that won't run not being reported as faulty."

Application incompatibility risk is greatest for custom applications. Key Vista problem areas:

• UAC (User Account Control)
• Internet Explorer 7
• Windows Presentation Foundation—and broader .Net Framework 3.0 components

KMS for Windows Server 2003 is a vital tool for companies looking to set up activation servers. With Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced Volume Activation 2.0, which requires periodic reactivation or validation of software purchased through volume licensing.

"The volume activation tools are important because organizations that have wanted to do testing and piloting have not been able to set up volume activation the way they will do it in production," Silver said.

University of Wisconsin at Madison is one example. "Microsoft has been very late to the table with Volume Activation 2.0. KMS activation is brand-new and there has not [been] sufficient time to evaluate it," reads a support notice posted by the school's Division of Information Technology. The situation is forcing the school to delay its planned move to KMS until "the tools needed to manage it mature, but we don't yet have a timetable."

Universities like UW-Madison that have purchased campuswide Microsoft site licenses are among the likely early candidates for Windows Vista migrations.

Before the release of KMS for Windows Server 2003, organizations had to either activate with Microsoft or to a local Windows Vista PC. In an interview yesterday, Shanen Boettcher, Microsoft's general manager of Windows Client, surprised me by saying that the tool only came about because customers asked for it.

Silver agreed that enterprises had been clamoring for a server-based solution now. "KMS on Win2003 Server was the most requested item and the most sorely lacking from the original release," he said.

Boettcher said the "plan was to release [KMS] with Longhorn Server." Windows Server Longhorn is on track for late-year release. Yesterday, Microsoft released a new Longhorn CTP (Community Technology Preview) to select testers, ahead of Beta 3.

I asked Boettcher twice more to make sure that I understand him correctly—that Microsoft hadn't planned to release a KMS tool for Windows Server 2003 but did so because customers "requested support." He reaffirmed the position.

"That surprises me and that doesn't jive with my recollection," said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. Nor does it jive with my recollection.

While Cherry more broadly agreed that KMS for Windows Server 2003 is essential for Vista deployments, he greatly faulted Microsoft for shortsightedness.

"All the benefit derives to Microsoft," Cherry said, as the main license management feature is anti-piracy. "There is no core relationship to any other license management [function]. They could have thrown a bone to users with some additional license management capabilities."