Windows Server 2008 R2 could be considered "Windows Server 7". A lot is happening to Terminal Services. One big change is cosmetic: Terminal Server will be renamed to Remote Desktop Services. Several other changes are most definitely technical ones. Let's take a look at the biggest changes.
Like in every new release of Terminal Services (I will keep use that name for now...) Microsoft adds features that third parties have been developing for some time now. This time around it is no different but that does not make the new features any less worth looking forward to. Microsoft is smart enough to leave enough space open for their partners to innovate. This is a classical (good) move by Microsoft. Remember when TS 2008 came around for the first time? Everybody was very excited and mentioned that you could do without third party products and just use TS 2008. Well today we know you can't. That's because Microsoft aims it at the "low-complexity" market. This actually means smaller customers / markets that have not thought about Terminal Services before. With Terminal Services in 2008 R2 Microsoft is taking the same approach, only now VDI is the focus. They have addressed some of the critical aspects of a VDI environment like the "user experience" and having an actual connection broker to start with. So in R2 VDI with just Microsoft product will be an option for "low-complexity" environments, so for smaller customers / markets that have not thought about VDI before. They even say it literally: "Together with Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the Remote Desktop Connection Broker enables a VDI solution for low-complexity, departmental environments, and a platform for partners who are delivering rich, extensible solutions where heterogeneous client support is a prerequisite, and when enhanced management and scalability is a requirement." Since Windows Server 2008 R2 is only going to be avaialble in 2010, this is completely inline with Microsoft's position on VDI in that they really do (did?) not think too much of it today.
To learn more and to read the entire article at its source, please refer to the following page, What Is New in Windows Server 2008 R2 Terminal Services? - Thincomputing.net
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