The MAP Toolkit — which is used to securely evaluate IT environments for platform migrations — includes multiple updates and improvements, including hardware to plan for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 deployments.

One new feature is an updated user interface, which Microsoft says will make it easier for admins to choose the migration scenario best suited for the tasks at hand.

The company says MAP 8.5 Beta can ready IT environments for Office 365 and Office 2013. It can also be used for tracking Windows Server, Exchange, Lync and SharePoint usage and preparing to migrate to Windows Azure virtual machines.

Another update to the tool, Windows Volume Licensing, can identify workstation licensing status. There are also changes to the tool’s VM discovery and inventory capabilities.

MAP 8.5 Beta is available for download here on Microsoft’s Connect website.

The update to Microsoft’s security assessment tool, which is noted for being a cost-effective security option for enterprises, comes roughly five months after the release of MAP Toolkit 8.0.

A tool is now available for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 which checks for inconsistencies and potential errors with software updates. The Software Update Tool checks the integrity of a few folders and repairs any issues with registry data.

A platform update is also available for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The update fixes a number of components, including the Windows Imaging Component and Direct3D.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials, the home business version of the server operating system, received server-side fixes in its first rollup update. It adds the option to use a third-party hosted email service and updates the .NET framework to a new version.

Multilingual versions of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 also received a small patch for a font rendering issue.

Microsoft also released Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7. It was previously available for Windows 8.

What do you think of this news? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @SearchWinServer.

Mary Jo Foley reported that a tipster told her the codename “Windows Blue” we’ve heard about will not only apply to Windows on the desktop, but also to Windows Server and Windows Services like SkyDrive and Office365.

“Blue is a wave of product refreshes which are not expected to arrive exactly all on the same day, but which are meant to be released more or less around the same time,” Foley wrote.

Foley further added credence to the rumor with a screenshot of a Microsoft employee’s LinkedIn profile containing references to the Windows Blue project.

The Blue update wouldn’t likely mean Microsoft would release a product called “Windows Server 2013″ this year and “Windows Server 2014″ the next. Rather, these updates would be distributed directly to admins by some means.

The iterative, yearly nature of this rumored strategy would be new for Microsoft, but its competitors on the desktop have moved to this with some success. Apple has released a “major” upgrade of its Mac OS X every year for the last three years.

These latest rumors ask more questions than they answer: Are they just more frequent Service Pack updates? Will they cost anything extra? How much of a headache will this cause admins?

What do you think of this news? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @SearchWinServer.

As one can expect, the service now supports the generally available Windows Server 2012 and, on client add-ins, Windows 8 and Outlook 2013.

The updated product brings performance improvements, especially when upgrading from Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010 to the R2 release. The company said that the waiting time to upgrade can be cut from hours to days for large-scale service databases.

FIM 2010 R2 SP1 adds support for Active Directory 2012 within the management agent for Active Directory Domain Services. Similarly, it supports the recently released Exchange 2013.

It also adds additional cmdlet support for PowerShell. Plus, it adds support for third-party Sun and Oracle directory servers.

Check out the full list of changes on Microsoft’s website.

Back in September, the company axed many of the products within the suite, even shifting around some of the names of the products.

The company today posted a video summing up the year in Microsoft releases, news and events into 12 key milestones. Check it out:

If you don’t like videos for some reason, this page has a convenient slideshow of the events.

Of course, there are the obvious hits with the Surface tablet and the Windows 8 launch, but it’s nice to see Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 being pinnacle achievements over the course of the last year.

But more importantly, the company rightly boasts about its giving campaigns. Its Youth Spark program intends to help 300 million youth with employment opportunities over the next three years.

The company also put out a list of top searches on Bing. Some of the top news stories: iPhone 5 and Kindle Fire. Absent from the list: the Surface (ouch).

Does any particular milestone stand out to you? What are you looking forward to in the year ahead? Let us know in the comments or send us a tweet @SearchWinServ.

In an advance security bulletin released this week, the company said December’s Patch Tuesday will include seven bulletins. Five bulletins are marked as critical and two are marked as important.

All of this month’s critical bulletins will address remote code execution vulnerabilities. Windows RT, Internet Explorer and multiple versions of Windows Server and Microsoft Office will be affected by these bulletins. Service packs for Windows Server and Office will also be affected by critical bulletins.

The important bulletins will address a remote code execution vulnerability and a security feature bypass vulnerability. These will affect Word Viewer and multiple versions of Office service packs.

This is the second month in which Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 will be affected by critical bulletins. November’s Patch Tuesday marked the first appearance of these OSs.

What do you think of this month’s patches? Let us know in the comments on this post, or on Twitter @SearchWinServ.

For October, our most popular pieces involved this year’s best ways to manage Windows Server, features in Windows Server 2012 and a busy Patch Tuesday.

Here are last month’s most popular stories on SearchWindowsServer.com.

October’s Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities in Word and Kerberos, rereleases

Last month’s Patch Tuesday was a busy one with seven bulletins and cumulative updates for Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8. Although there was only one critical patch, vulnerabilities in Kerberos and Word caused concern. A certificate authentication error meant patches from August had to be rereleased.

Our five best tips for managing Windows Server

We put together this year’s five most popular tips for Windows Server management. Features in PowerShell, ReFS, IIS 8 and Remote Desktop Gateway are highlighted.

Clustering improvements in Windows Server 2012 ease administration

Up until Windows Server 2012, clustering had specific limitations and dependencies. In the latest version of Windows Server, these changes offer admins more flexibility and include read-only domain controller support, a lack of complicated scripts and no more Active Directory dependency to boot.

Windows Server 2012 and scale-out file servers

Continuous availability is the name of the game with Windows Server 2012. This tip tells admins the best way to set up scale-out file servers and make zero downtime a reality.

Make sure hardware is compatible when upgrading to Windows Server 2012

Before making the jump to Windows Server 2012, it’s important for admins to ensure hardware will still be compatible after the upgrade. Our expert offers admins some suggestions about what to look for.

What content of ours helped you in October? Let us know in the comments on this post, or on Twitter @SearchWinServ.

Not satisfied with releasing 2012 editions of Windows Server and desktop Windows to manufacturing, Microsoft has revamped its logo for the first time in 25 years.

In a post on Microsoft’s corporate blog, Jeff Hansen explained the rationale for the new logo, saying it “takes its inspiration from our product design principles while drawing upon the heritage of our brand values, fonts and colors.”

Reflecting the new design of OS (but don’t call it Metro) in its server, phone and desktop, the waving Windows flag is replaced by four square tiles. In fact, the logo might make one want to play the beloved childhood game or check in somewhere.

This puts another notch in Microsoft’s belt this summer.  It seems like every week this summer, Microsoft has divulged or announced plans for something new. The company is aware of that fact, too: Frank X. Shaw, vice president of corporate communications, posted on the company’s blog that the company is setting a “blistering pace.”

What do you think of the new logo? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @SearchWinServ. 

All code is complete and being delivered to hardware and software partners this week, Windows Server lead architect Jeffrey Snover said in a blog post on the company’s website.

“It feels great to ship software that so squarely addresses customer objectives, both in the here and now and in the future,” Snover wrote.

The server product reached release candidate, its last major milestone, on June 1. Windows Server 2012 will be generally available nearly two full months ahead of its client sibling, Windows 8, which also hit the RTM milestone Wednesday.

Will you be adopting Windows Server 2012 when it comes out in September, or will you wait it out? Let us know in the comments or by Twitter @SearchWinServ.