This week, diving deeper in to the functional side of DS with some Windows 7 testing along with software deploying.
So we all know the new DS is different, but I never knew it was going to be this different. And Different is not good at all from an DS Administrator's perspective. So here is a low down.
- Software manager is a mess. Maybe from an accountant's side this may be decent, but for an admin, it bestows more work, more clutter, and a interface that serves hardly any benefits. Bottom line, Too many steps to create a job, and not any benefits over the existing platform.
- New PXE has some issues. The SBS corrupts at times causing machines to give the Device is Not Capable errors. Again, another solution to a problem that didnt exist in DS 6.x or any of the competitor's products.
- Software delivery is badly executed as well. There are Tasks and Jobs. While a Job can contain multiple Tasks, it cannot encapsulate a multi lined Job. It will create the Tasks that you add in to it as separate entities. Which adds clutter to the console(Attached picture red lines), and makes as much sense as Keith Richards.
Some of the console areas are so bad you cant even expand the left pane without frustration(Attached picture blue Arrows). The DS product design is terrible and made worse by a terrible console. Bottom line, Stay on DS 6.x unless you need Win7 and 8 Migration.
The Patch(Software update Solution) seems solid, and PCAnywhere works as promised. The out of the box Inventory works exceptionally well, to have full inventory data on client first check in is a bonus.