Fortunately, the tools and services behind Windows deployments right out of the box have improved: indeed, it's possible to roll out desktops very easily with new deployment enhancements without resorting to more sophisticated and expensive management solutions. In this article, I'll take a look at four deployment improvements in Vista, and how they benefit you.

Modularization

One of the big engineering pushes Microsoft made during the development of Windows Vista was to make the operating system more modular -- meaning the components of the operating system are separate and somewhat interchangeable. While also improving the usability experience -- customers can select only the pieces they want to be installed without having to go for the entire OS -- the modularization also helps system administrators manage their deployments.

For example, drivers, service packs, updates and localization (languages) are all much easier to incorporate into Vista installations. It's possible to customize components both before and after installation to a degree that wasn't possible with previous versions of Windows. Patching, updating, and security vulnerability mitigation is easier because areas of the operating system are independent of others, meaning less breakage and less testing required to get an update out the door.

If you are an administrator for a larger, global network, you'll appreciate that Microsoft has made Windows Vista language-agnostic. Languages, including English, are treated as optional components from the required OS code, which allows you to add and remove them from installations and images very easy.