Way cool demo because at last Microsoft have taken it to heart that we would like printing fixed.
Nelly Porter of Microsoft gave an excellent presentation at Briforum 2007 in Chicago by showing of 2 new features of Longhorn Terminal Services
Plug and Play Device support. Connect a Camera to the client side and watch it connect to you Terminal server.
and then
Terminal Services Easy Print: TS Easy Print, a new feature in Windows Server “Longhorn” Beta 3 using XPS ( XML Paper Specification), enables users to reliably print from a TS RemoteApp program or full desktop session to a local or network printer installed on the client computer. Printers can now be supported without the need to install print drivers on the terminal server. When users want to print from a TS RemoteApp program or desktop session, they will see the full printer properties dialog box (printer user interface) from the local client and have access to all the printer functionality. IT administrators can use Group Policy to limit the number of printers redirected to just the default printer, thereby reducing overhead and improving scalability.
How does TS Easy Print work ? The way TS Easy Print works is that an XPS print driver running on the Terminal Server will spool the printer data down to the client over a Virtual Channel. On the client-side an Easy Print plugin intercepts this traffic and prints it out, even if the local printer does not have an XPS driver. Here are a few feature highlights:
- The printer data is compressed on the wire and will be able to be controlled
- Supports any printer settings including OEM
- Full control over which printers are redirected
- Printer preferences are preserved and honored in remote sessions, including default printer setting
- Embedded XP, and Windows Clients will be suppor initially because .NET framework is required, CE will hopefully be available.
Nelly Porter also showed off the AERO / GLASS support now with in Longhorn Server, giving end users Vista look and feel..
for more information on Longhorn Server Features click here
Charles Aunger
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