And so it begins...
Con people into using a technology, then one Windows update later, it's gone. You want it back? £££££...
Rinse, repeat.
Microsoft is packing its desktop virtualization into Windows 10 Anniversary Update next month – but you'll need an Enterprise or Education agreement to receive it. From August 2, the client's release date, Application Virtualization (App-V) and User Environment Virtualization (UE-V) will come as standard for both the Windows …
Don't worry, all the features you want will be available to you regardless of company size. All you'll have to do is subscribe to the "Azure hosted desktop experience", or whatever marketing speak they come up with.
I can actually see MS getting to the point where they won't even sell a license to run Windows locally unless you have thousands of desktops. You'll run some stripped down RDP zero client, probably built into the BIOS - just enough to get you connected to Azure. Start watching for those easy Azure migration utilities to come built-in to Windows 11 or 12 and you'll know they're ready to pull the plug.
MS have the ability to add / delete features at will (and charge for them too). That is horseshit and still people install this crap.
Another reason for not touching Windows 10 is that my wife's Windows 7 machine she uses for work has media centre on it and it works perfectly. She can watch (and record) TV or DVD from within Windows and it works faultlessly. Upgrade to Win 10 and it's just not there. Some upgrade.
App-V. UE-V. MDOP. Direct Access. Windows To Go Creator. AppLocker. BranchCache. Start Screen Control with Group Policy. Volume agreement. Software Assurance. This edition, that edition. This experience, that experience...
...dunno about anyone else, but I can't even be bothered to have the slightest inclination to even begin to consider the possibility of giving brain-space to working out what any of their bollocks actually means.
"There is nothing wrong with your operating system. Do not attempt to adjust the settings. We are controlling the configuration. If we wish to make it more useful, we will add features. If we wish to make it less useful, we will remove functionality. We control the applications. We control the connectivity..."
Less for more, endlessly!
And it seems to be happening even BEFORE the monthly/annual fees kick in for Windows lusers. No real disrespect intended here, because I was a Windows user for many years until Satan Satya took over and oversaw the release of Windows 8 and 10, the new "SAAS" strategy, and the many other fine benefits he's brought to the Windows ecosystem and its victims inhabitants. Like many others, I've bolted to the Penguin camp in self-defense.
I always think of Steve Jobs when i see Microsoft doing this shit. Just go to 1:06 on this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G5UUw9puhQ even if you are not a fan of him, that part is amusing.
Why can Microsoft not just do what they did years ago, Windows NT Server and Windows NT Workstation. Need to join it to a domain ? you change the setting, don't? then just don't ever go near that setting.
We don't need Starter, Home, Home Premium, Pro, Enterprise, Eduction, Ultimate and god knows what fu*king else!!
Looks like the AppV & UE-V clients are being removed from MDOP henceforth and will ONLY be available via Win10 Enterprise/Education and will be updated via Windows Update. AppV server & sequencer together with UE-V generator will continue to be available through MDOP.
it does look like the end of the road for Windows 7/8/8.1 AppV support though; AppV 5.1/UE-V 2.1 will be last clients supported on Win7. Any future updates & hot fixes will only be available to Win10 Enterprise & Education clients.
That's a few thousand more Win7 desktops and future application packages to worry about at work....
Quick question: Up until now, to use UE-V or App-V you had to have the System licensed with a Volume License Windows Client with the MDOP. So basically, you are already licensing the enterprise version.
You could simply choose to be lazy and not re-image that new system with pre-installed Windows 7/8/10 Professional Edition. Which is silly.
Especially if you are already running Windows 10, as you will be giving up Credential Guard, among other security enhancements.
So.... why are people really bothered? Because now they have to pay for what they use?
Up until now, you could for instance license 1 Windows Client with SA & MDOP, and use the MDOP bennis - such as App-V, MED-V, UE-V, DART, etc - on aaaallllll those other little boxes you bought from the bay, with that preinstalled Win 7 Pro. Not quite legal.
Integrating the UE-V and App-V Clients into Windows 10 is basically just 2 MSIs less to deploy. You still need to run the respective servers and infrastructure in the backend.
One last sidenote: MS needs to make it easier to license SA for SMB. IF those SMB have a Volume Licensing Contract, they usually have an OpenValue - at least in Merkel-land - and those lock you in for a year, or even three for any purchase. Adding a single SA for a new PC that you just bought is close to torture, especially if you are already in year 2 or 3 of your 3-yr-contract.
"So.... why are people really bothered? Because now they have to pay for what they use?"
First rule of any Reg comments section about a Microsoft article - regardless of the contents of the article, you must jump on this chance to slag off Microsoft.
If they are removing something broken, then you must complain that you use this feature all the time, regardless of the fact that everyone knows it is broken and anyone using it is an idiot.
If they are integrating an otherwise separate feature into the main operating system, you must complain that you don't want it to be integrated because now it is filling up your computer with unwanted crap, even if it doesn't install by default,
If they are making something easier, complain that it is spammy. If they are making something harder, complain that it is too complex. If they are giving away free cake, complain that they are trying to bribe people. If they set up a hospital specifically to nurse seriously injured puppies back to health, argue that the puppies deserve to die.
Attempt to fit the word 'sheeple' in if possible, even though it makes anyone using it sound like a total dickhead from a 1996 conspiracy theory. Announce that the Great Migration to Mint is now certain, because that makes it clear you know nothing about either Linux generally or Mint specifically. Make some general comments that haven't been true since about 1993; in particular, a long rambling critique of how much you hate Terminal Services or MSDOS 3.1 will be prized and earn you much status. Screaming with rage about some specific Visual Basic bug from Office '97 that was fixed years ago is also a bonus.
Maybe try and claim that Apple would never do something like this, despite the fact that Apple pull shit like this constantly on iOS. For extra points, post some videos of Steve Jobs at one of his cultish events, probably while launching some hideously locked-down, overpriced piece of crap that no-one in their right mind would try to use for serious work. Do not mention the Watch.
Fail to comply with these rules and you'll get like a million downvotes. Remember, even if MS are dong something good, they have been making all our lives hell in dozens of ways for 20+ years, so their natural relationship with the average Reg commentard is a deep and abiding distrust.
Everyone is aware that AppV and UE-V are enterprise level application packaging, deployment and management technologies not individual consumer level tools?
Barring AppV/ClickToRun being the delivery method for Personal/Home Premium/University Office 365 desktop Office applications, AppV was only ever available via Software Assurance. The Software Assurance only allowed AppV/UE-V to be used on Windows Enterprise desktops - any Windows Professional, Home/Home Premium/Core machines wouldn't be covered by SA and therefore shouldn't have had AppV/UE-V on them in the first place.
Individuals 'bolting for the Penguin' is all well and good, hope its working out for you but they wouldn't be affected by the whole AppV/UE-V clients moving out of MDOP to Win 10 Enterprise/Education in the first place.
Microsoft just got finished giving away their latest OS upgrade to Home and Pro customers. Since it's "free" from now on, I wouldn't expect any more of the enterprise features to be backported into Home or Pro.
It's definitely a shift from Win7/Win8, but not unexpected. At work we were previously able to get away with Windows 7 Professional OEM licenses because we didn't use the enterprise features. Windows 10 is forcing the company into Enterprise licensing because there's no other way to control the telemetry to a reasonable level or access certain features we need now.