Announcing Windows MultiPoint Server Update Rollup 1 Beta

Expanding the international footprint of Windows MultiPoint Server 2011

Additional language support and minor updates now available with Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 Rollup 1 Beta

Hi. It’s James again. I'm lucky enough to run Windows MultiPoint Server Program Management which is a great gig. In this post, I want to provide an update on WMS 2011 as well as share some insights into our thinking on how we continue to evolve the product.

Building a sense of community in the classroom is a powerful thing. One of the things that inspires me is developing a product designed to foster community, to accelerate learning in the classroom and to offer a solution that scales in a way that can be affordable for teachers and students all over the world. To ensure we are delivering the right product and capabilities, the Windows MultiPoint Server team has on-going conversations with school leaders, partners and teachers listening to helpful feedback on your experience with the product and what new capabilities you would like to see. A very fun part of my job. Please know that this feedback is really valued so keep it coming.

Last month Dean talked a bit about language support in MultiPoint Server 2011- which is fully localized in 16 languages - and gave a run down on how to configure the languages. I’m excited to share that we did some additional work, based on your direct feedback, and are now announcing the Beta availability of Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 Update Rollup 1 which will feature full Arabic and Hebrew language support. 

 

Adding full support for those languages was a real challenge on the development side, because not only is the mainline reading direction Right-to-Left, but some words and phrases continue to remain in Left-to-Right.  Accounting for that bi-directionality properly can be tricky to say the least.  But the reward makes it all worth it: adding support for Arabic and Hebrew makes the MultiPoint Server solution accessible to an additional 350 Million native speakers worldwide. 

Update Rollup 1 also includes the minor fixes we’ve added to the product since it released back in February, including:

  • Improved support for some touch screens and interactive whiteboards
  • Improved drive letter management for USB storage
  • The option to select different mouse performance profiles for internet versus local video for USB-connected clients
  • Dynamic detection of remote devices connected using custom listeners
  • Ability to detect PS/2 stations’ audio in all possible hardware configuration

Right now we’re targeting to have the final release ready for the back to school season but we don’t have a specific date to share at this time. In the meantime, we encourage you to download the Beta and let us know what you think. In addition to the great Beta feedback we normally have I’m particularly interested to hear from Arabic and Hebrew speaking users!

I also encourage you to come visit us at the ISTE conference where we can give you a personal tour of the Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 Rollup 1 updates.

We hope to see you at ISTE. Take care.