Vista: New Twists in VLK Management

Mark has a good post on what's new in VLK management under volume activation 2.0 (VA 2.0) for Windows Vista. If you check the FAQ, you probably won't find anything too unexpected. Depending on your environment there's going to be a few options here... for disconnected environments - or environments that don't have internet access on an on-going basis (manufacturing?), it looks like MAK and MAK independent activation will be the common model. For more traditional and/or corporate IT departmens (and SBSers alike), MAK plus MAK Proxy activation, or likely KMS activation (for managed environments with more than 25 machines) are going to be the common approach.

The short of it - read the FAQ. If you thought TS-licensing was inconvenient, then I don't imagine you'll be a fan of VA 2.0. On the other hand, after VA 1.0 we all should have seen the writing on the walls. VA 2.0 is just the next evolution of the service. Besides, if you're competing on price in the SMB segment, won't it be nice to know that the company your in competition with is going to be playing by the same licensing rules as you? Yeah, I thought so.