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Microsoft tears the wraps off Windows 8 Enterprise

USB boot from your own device

Remember the enterprise? Despite what has become a fanatical focus on consumers to beat Apple with Windows 8 tablets and Windows phones, Microsoft does – just about.

Microsoft on Monday revealed three main editions of Windows 8, due later this year: two for tablets and Windows Pro for “business/technical professionals”, which for some reason assumes such professionals won’t want a tablet in the office.

Snuck into the news was the merest of mentions of Windows 8 Enterprise Edition. Now, three days later, Microsoft has explained how Enterprise will differ from Pro – beyond the obvious point of it only being available to the big dogs on a Software Assurance contract.

With Enterprise it’ll be possible to boot from a USB with Windows to Go, so organisations can install and manage the operating system on devices the user brings into the office.

Mobility and security are served in two ways: there will be remote access to the corporate network without the need to launch a separate VPN using DirectAccess, while PCs can cache files, websites and other content without constantly choking the corporate network with repeated downloads.

Enterprise users will also receive the ability to "side-load internal, Windows 8 Metro style apps". This sounds like the ability to install apps that were not built according to the WinRT rules but which have the tiled interface.

The Software Assurance rules have been, once again, extended. Among the changes are an extension of SA to cover any machine using Windows to Go.

These features come in addition to Windows 8 Pro's BitLocker encryption, client virtualisation, domain and group policy management and file system encryption.

You can read more here. ®

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