I’m pleased to announce the Release Candidate (RC) for Windows Thin PC (WinTPC) is now available for download from the WinTPC RC site. It’s been a busy month for the Windows Thin PC team. Since the launch of the Windows Thin PC Community Technology Preview (CTP) program on March 28 we have seen tremendous interest in the product with thousands of downloads of the software. So, we would like to take this opportunity to recognize our enthusiastic community of well over 12,000 customers and partners who have signed up for the Technology Preview program. Thank you for helping us to create a great product! Please keep sending us your suggestions; it is valuable as we continue our software development.
I’d like to share what we’ve been hearing from those that have tried the CTP. Customers like the reduced footprint of WinTPC – the machines they will likely use it on often have less disk space than brand new machines and WinTPC helps to ensure they will have adequate space. They also like the write filters which are helping customers to secure the device running WinTPC by preventing them from saving data or installing applications locally and they’re also pleased they can leverage their existing System Center products for management and deployment.
Many of you have been inquiring as to when the product will be available to customers outside the CTP Program. I’d like to take the opportunity to announce that we plan to Release to Manufacturing (RTM) within this quarter (Q2 CY2011). Windows Thin PC will be made available as an SA benefit, and customers with active SA or Windows VDA on their Windows PCs will be able to deploy Windows Thin PC to their environments after RTM. For more information on Windows Thin PC, check out the FAQ.
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