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Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2013 R2 Supports Office 2013 Virtualization
Latest release adds a modicum of virtualization features, including ability to virtualize Office 2013 Pro for those who have a Volume license.
Microsoft has announced Release 2 of its Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2013, key of which is a feature to allow the virtualization of Office 2013. It also supports Windows 8.1, which was released mid-October.
MDOP is a suite of tools that's available only to those who purchase Software Assurance. As such, the solutions in the suite help to make management and deployment of enterprise Windows much easier at scale. On the virtualization side, MDOP contains Application Virtualization 5.0 SP2, which allows the packaging of applications via a virtualized environment. What's key in this release is support for virtualizing Office 2013 Professional if purchased via Volume licensing. Older Office versions are supported with older versions of App-V.
The company also said that App-V also has improved sequencing, which makes the packaging apps for running in a virtualized environment a smoother process. New too is shell extension support, so that packaged apps behave as if in a native Windows environment.
MDOP also includes User Experience Virtualization 2.0, which allows user environment and application settings to roam among devices, all under IT control. The new version adds Windows App Store support, which includes support for Windows 8.1. Also new is a Company Settings Center feature. It installs as an agent and gives IT control and ability to troubleshoot apps and OS settings from UE-V.
Microsoft covers a number of other new features in this blog post.
About the Author
Michael Domingo has held several positions at 1105 Media, and is currently the editor in chief of Visual Studio Magazine.