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The big news is finally here: What is Microsoft doing with the "crown jewels" of the DesktopStandard acquisition? In short: It's gonna be free. Here's the breakdown of the announcement:

• The PolicyMaker technologies will officially be called Group Policy Preferences.
• There are 20-some-odd "big" things you can do, like zap down drive mapping and shortcuts and a whole lot more.
• PolicyMaker Share Manager (which helps you set up and dictate share permissions) will also be part of the set.
• They require a CSE (Client Side Extension) as do all GP extensions.
  • The CSE will ship in the box for Windows Server 2008.
  • The CSE will be an extra download for XP, 2003 and Vista
  • The CSE will not work for 2000

So, why are they called the "Group Policy Preferences" and not more something.. "Policy-ish?" I'll explain that in an upcoming newsletter. However, Microsoft has a whitepaper which details the major new categories of features and describes some other odds and ends including the distinction between a Policy and a Preference.

That paper is here which every GP admin should read.

I will be covering this in an upcoming newsletter soon as well as have FULL coverage in the next book; I promise !!