SoftGrid ships with something called the SoftGrid SMS Connector. It’s a neat piece of technology that enables Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) administrators to deploy SoftGrid applications by using the same SMS process they always did. However, what’s not generally known is that the SMS Connector has been deprecated (that is, put out to pasture).

The problem with the SMS Connector wasn’t the technology itself; rather, the technology was too specific to a Microsoft solution. In other words, Microsoft wanted a more generalized way to deploy SoftGrid applications to users and that way should be through MSI.

Many technologies are capable of deploying MSI applications. This includes Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 (the new version of SMS), Group Policy, and third-party application deployment solutions such as those from LANDesk and Altiris.

The official deprecation has occurred with the birth of the new MSI Utility used in the solution I describe in the main article. So, if you’re already using the SMS Connector with SoftGrid, get started using the new SoftGrid MSI wrap-up tool.