System Center Guide

The following explanation of why the only available bits for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 are from the evaluation edition was posted to the myITforum.com SMS/SCCM Mail List today by the well-regarded Jeff Wettlaufer, Sr Technical Product Manager at Microsoft.

I thought I would chime in to clear up any concerns about when R2 will hit MVLS. 

The October MVLS refresh is accurate.  To explain the delay to update the MVLS site, it is important to understand how MVLS operates.  In order to batch update their site with all Microsoft product releases (not just a System Center issue), they have a deadline of the middle (15th) of any month for submission.  If an RTM date moves past that and hits the 2nd half of the month, MVLS will roll that to the following month.  This is the delay we are experiencing.

In the case of Configuration Manager R2, with the RTM date at the end of August, the date was (far) past the date required to have MVLS update in the September refresh.  So, Configuration Manager R2, for SA customers, will be reflected in the October MVLS refresh.  This delay is not due to a product quality issue, or other product related concern. 

This is not a System Center issue.  This MVLS deadline happens to any Microsoft product that is released.  We are working closely with the MVLS team to shorten this cycle for future releases, and hope in the coming months we can announce that this process has changed for the better, with a tighter cycle from RTM to MVLS update.

The update that has hit the Partner site is in fact also the R2 eval version.  There is some slightly different wording there that messages the update for a partner audience, but the link is for the ConfigMgr R2 eval edition. 

I hope this helps to explain the delay, and I understand this is not necessarily getting you the bits any earlier.  We have taken a TON of feedback on this from our field, our customers and our partners that this must change, and we are doing everything we can to shorten the timeframe for future releases.

Kind regards

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr Technical Product Manager
System Center