App-V 4.6 Public Beta now available for download!

Today, I am happy to announce immediate availability of Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.6 Beta. At TechEd EMEA we announced our commitment to ship the next version of App-V in H1 2010. In March of this year, as part of the MDOP 2009 launch, we indicated that the development of App-V 4.6 was underway. Today, we have reached a major milestone and are a step closer to our goal.

This will be the first version of App-V to support both x64 and x86 Windows platforms. The primary focus of this release is to enable App-V to take advantage of 64-bit Windows platforms including Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. We’ve also made some improvements in the App-V Sequencer such as simplifying the workflow for creating virtual applications and adding the ability to sequence true 64-bit applications, a first to market! For customers running Windows XP or Windows Vista, you can also use App-V 4.6 Beta and take advantage of the support for Office 2010, 64-bit platform support and additional features in the release.

Customers who want to get familiar App-V 4.6 Beta can register and download via Microsoft Connect. As always, we want to hear from you. We build great products by including feedback from our customers, so go ahead, test App-V 4.6 and give us feedback via Connect.

For customers who are currently using App-V 4.5 CU1 with their 32-bit Windows 7 systems, we will release an update to the 4.5 version of the product. App-V 4.5 SP1 will be available within 90 days of Windows 7 general availability and provide full support for running App-V 4.5 and Windows 7 (32-bit) in production. Enjoy!