Windows with a View

Corporate networks with a large number of client workstations often rely on some form of network service for installing operating systems upgrades and software updates. Installing updates on a Linux system is very easy because almost every Linux distribution comes with some form of package manager. However, the concept of package management is not as familiar to the Windows world.

Many Windows programs support automatic online updates, but everyday users often do not have sufficient privileges to complete the installation. On top of this, online updates consume a huge amount of bandwidth if, for instance, all of your clients attempt to download the latest Office update at the same time.

Several proprietary solutions offer deployment and software management services for Windows clients. Windows Active Directory has a rudimentary software deployment solution, but only for Microsoft's MSI package system. Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS, now replaced by System Center Configuration Manager), Materna DX-Union, Novell Zen for Desktops, some HP OpenView components, and IBM Tivoli offer similar features. Community projects such as WPKG [1], Unattended [2], and Unattended GUI [3] have also gotten in the game.

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