Gosh, it's been a while...

Hi friends of Configuration Manager,

After a short stint in the Exchange product group, I have moved back to a product group that I just couldn't stay away from: Configuration Manager. Not only is the team great, but the community and customers surrounding this product are absolutely fantastic. This is truly a place where my passion lies. So what am I up to these days? Well, I am pleased to say that I am working on Configuration Manager v.Next and specifically the next generation Software Distribution feature. In v.Next, we are creating a true state-based application distrubution feature. Coming from a background in Software Update Management (SUM), I have always felt good about the detection of updates and the on-demand, selective download of updates to be installed. I am really excited to be working on a software distribution feature where we model software applications in much the same way. We are bringing the concepts of requirement rules, detection methods, dependencies, supersedence, and more to the distribution of software in Configuration Manager v.Next. For years, we have had Packages and Programs, and those aren't going away. There will be a place for using Packages and Programs in v.Next for running reoccuring scripts and specialized tasks. But for deploying applications, the new Application Model in v.Next is where it is at.

So please download the Beta and start evaluating it today!

As things heat up, look for more articles, tips, tricks and tidbits on Configuration Manager v.Next right here on this Blog.

Thanks!

Bryan