Dear Microsoft.
You have done a lot of things right in both Microsoft Vista Service Pack 1 (and Server 2008) and in Windows XP Service Pack 3. But for some reason, and I really can't understand why, you have done rather arbitrary command line parameter changes in the new Terminal Services client.
As most, of not all, Windows Server administrators I rely heavily on the remote administration capabilities of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).While Windows allows a lot of remote administration methods, some things do need more of a "hands on approach". Remotely connecting to the server console provides an excellent way to get your hands dirty, and as I live in a mostly virtualized environment it's usually the best way of managing some aspects of my servers.
In a pre Vista SP1/Server 2008 and XP SP3 environment, a simple '%windir%\System32\mstsc.exe -v:<ip> /F /console' would do the trick.
All of a sudden, notice that that the /console argument seems to have been replaced by a new /admin argument. What?! All my old shortcuts that connect me directly to the servers console no longer connect me to the console. It doesn't complain when I execute the command, but if I don't use the new /admin parameter I connect to a new session instead of an existing console session.
It's a small task to change my own personal shortcuts, but if you have created a set of shared shortcuts for your administrators you now need double sets. At least until you upgrade all you clients. For a set of administrators thats a small task, but it's greatly annoying. Another side effect of this is that if you have old MMC consoles still call the /console option as well, thus are not connecting to the actual console. I noticed that the Remote Admin MMC plugin in Windows Server 2008 has been updated to actually use the new /admin parameter, so at least they got that bit sorted. I haven't checked in XP or Vista yet though.
Microsoft: I can't understand why you did this change, but I can accept it. What I don't understand is this; When you change a parameter like this, didn't you think that it would be a good idea to still support the old syntax as well? At least until the next version?
I wonder how many others are out there that think they connect to their server consoles, but actually aren't. I'm certain this has caused a lot of frustration and confusion all over the place. In mixed environments this can be a real hassle, and a genuine issue. I'm sure there are are other consequences to this as well, that I haven't discovered or thought about yet.
In summary, /console has been deprecated and replaced by /admin when calling the mstsc client. Why? I have no idea, and I haven't seen anything "official" regarding this anywhere.
To /console or to /admin
Microsoft Virtualization Road Map
In a press release dated the 22nd of May 2006, Microsoft outlines their Virtualization Road Map.
Mostly well known news there, but one thing caught my attention though was the following passage:
Intent to acquire Softricity, Inc: Softricity’s application virtualization and streaming technologies provide application compatibility and accelerate corporate desktop transitions to Windows Vista.
Softricity
To me, this sounds very much like Microsoft is definately moving towards a more "applications as a service" approach, and moving away from traditional software installation/distribution. "Pay-as-you-go" applications, available anywhere and at any time, virtualization and more. Seems like Microsoft is really shifting gears and they do start to look more like a service provider than an a pure OS/Office provider than before. For more reactions and analysis on how this will affect how we distribute software in Windows based solutions, check dabcc.com
Be sure to catch Bill Gates Keynote at Winhec live at 9PM PST on the 23rd of May. I'm sure these topics as well as Terminal Services are going to be covered.