Last week Symantec announced the Customer Preview for Workspace Virtualization 6.3.
Workspace Virtualization (formerly Software Virtualization Solution or SVS) is an application virtualization platform acquired from Altiris in January 2007.
Symantec didn’t publish any significant update for more than two years. Then, in August 2009, the company released the first rebranded build since the acquisition, jumping from version 2.1 to version 6.1.
In March the company released the Customer Preview of version 6.2 which introduced a new package format named XPF, containing both streaming and virtualization information so customers no longer had to convert a VSA into something that Workspace Virtualization can consume.
The new 6.3 Customer Preview instead introduces:
- Support for Windows 7 and Vista 64-bit editions – This release provides 64-bit support for the latest Microsoft desktop operating systems. Stream virtualized applications instead of reinstalling as you roll out Windows 7.
- Automatic Application Streaming by File Extension – Provisioned applications are streamed automatically when associated files are opened on the system. For example, if Microsoft Word is provisioned but not streamed, the application is streamed automatically when a doc file is opened.
- Microsoft Office 2010 support – This release provides better support for packaging, streaming, and virtualizing Microsoft Office 2010. See the packaging guidelines later in this document.