Would you like fries with that?

No, I'm not quitting to go work for McDonald's.  (The thought has crossed my mind a few times - what a joy it would be to have a job that you could completely forget about as soon as you walked out the door for the day.  Too bad they don't pay as well.)  I'm thinking more about the idea of asking customers if they would like something else, especially if it would add very little additional cost.

OK, so what the heck does this have to do with Windows deployment?  Well, imagine that you are a customer and have brought in a consultant to help you with your Windows XP deployment.  They have installed Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008, gathered the installation files, applications, drivers, etc., and produced a Windows XP image and deployment process.  Then they ask a simple question:

While we're at it, would you like us to create a Windows Vista image for you too?  It will only take a few additional hours.

That might sound like a stretch, but there are consultants out there that are doing exactly that.  The bulk of the process is the same - and has already been completed for the Windows XP work.  So why not, I'll take a Windows Vista image too :-)

What's even more amazing:  Talking to consultants who will create the Windows Vista image at the same time, without even asking the customer if they want one and without adding any additional cost.  Later they'll say, "Oh, by the way I also created a Windows Vista image in case you want to start piloting with that."  That's very cool.