It¡¯s exciting, fantastic, amazing, wonderful and totally cool - Microsoft has FINALLY announced what is going to happen with the PolicyMaker stuff they got when taking over DesktopStandards¡¦ It¡¯s going to be released with Windows Server 2008 as many of us had hoped for!
This is just GREAT I can tell you - and it will available to the public with the RC1 release of Windows Server 2008, maybe even before as a separate Beta program I¡¯m told¡¦
Microsoft decided to call it ¡°Group Policy Preferences¡± or just ¡°GP Preferences¡±. So, what can we do with this you ask? Well, here¡¯s some of it:
- Map network drives
- Set Environment variables
- Copy Files to clients
- Create and update INI files
- Modify registry settings on the clients (REG_SZ, REG_DWORD, REG_BINARY, REG_MULTI_SZ, and REG_EXPAND_SZ )
- Create Shortcuts (URL/File/Shell)
- Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
- Control Devices
- Set Folder Options
- Define File Associations
- Tweak Internet Settings
- Handle Local Users and Groups (change passwords, add/remove from groups, disable users etc.)
- Set Network Options (like VPN or Dial-Up connections)
- Configure Power Options (Windows XP)
- Map Printers (even TCP/IP printers)
- Set Regional Options
- Create Scheduled Tasks
- Set properties on Services
- Tweak the Start Menu
- and so on¡¦.
As you can see, it¡¯s quite impressive and something that will make companies around the world turn to Windows Server 2008 ASAP¡¦ I think and
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