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A concise history of BDD

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I've seen quite a few "concise history" books recently -- apparently people like history, but don't like it to be long-winded or rambling.  So keeping with that idea, let me present the history of the Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) solution accelerator:

Version Released Description
Business Desktop Deployment 1.0 August 2003 This was the first version of BDD released to the public, based on work done by Microsoft Consulting Services.  It consisted of guidance, batch files, and simple scripts and requires lots of hand-tweaking to create and deploy Windows 2000 and XP images.
Windows Server Deployment 1.0 October 2003 This was a quick reworking of BDD 1.0, to support deploying Windows Server 2003.
Business Desktop Deployment 2.0(Standard and Enterprise) November 2004 This was a major update to BDD 1.0, adding hypertext application (HTA) configuration support, a precursor to today's task sequencing engine (actions), more VBScript and fewer batch files, and simpler installation.  Also added was a new rules engine for performing data-driven deployments, a Zero Touch Installation mechanism to extend the capabilities of the SMS 2003 OS Deployment Feature Pack that was released at the same time, and Windows XP SP2 guidance and support.
Business Desktop Deployment 2.5 (Standard and Enterprise) August 2005 This was an evolutionary release, building on top of the BDD 2.0 release.  This was the first release that supported x64 versions of Windows, and the last release that supported third-party imaging tools.
Business Desktop Deployment 2007 (a.k.a. BDD 3.0) January 2007 This was a major reworking, introducing the ConfigMgr 2007 task sequencing engine, Windows PE 2.0 support, Windows Vista support, ImageX image capturing, an MMC 3.0-based administration tool, new database administration tools, and many more enhancements.
Business Desktop Deployment 2007 patch 1 June 2007 This was a roll-up of several bug fixes and minor enhancements, as documented by https://support.microsoft.com/?id=937191.
Microsoft Deployment (a.k.a. BDD 2008, a.k.a. BDD 4.0, a.k.a. Windows Server Deployment, a.k.a. Deployment 4) November 2007 Another major update, adding support for OS deployment with ConfigMgr 2007, Windows Server 2003 deployment support (the primary reason why "Business Desktop Deployment" was no longer a good name), Office 2007 support, a new documentation set, and a variety of other enhancements.

 

We will soon have two new entries to add to this table, with updates for BDD 2007 and Microsoft Deployment both planned for release around the time Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 are released.  As soon as that happens, I guess I'll need to update the table.

From a personal perspective, I've been working on BDD and Microsoft Deployment since Spring 2004.  It's hard to believe that it's been that long already :-)

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