Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 4.0. Application Compatibility Toolkit. Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. These are among the free tools Microsoft has made available to help IT departments deploy Windows 7 more easily.

4sysops IT guru Michael Pietroforte has put together a roundup of these freebies, which he calls a "remarkable collection." Here's an excerpt, in which he explains his rationale for creating the overview:

If the last OS you deployed was Windows XP, which was released nine years ago, then you might be interested in knowing about the available technology that helps you get rid of this hopelessly outdated operating system. In this post I will give you a short description of all Windows deployment tools that help you plan installations and evaluate hardware and software compatibility.

In addition to the three aforementioned tools, Pietroforte talks about the Windows Optimized Desktop Solution Accelerator, which, though "not really a deployment tool in the literal sense," helps provide an overview of your PC environment--always good to have during the planning stage.

We're so impressed with this guy, we've got an interview with him lined up for a near-future post. Stay tuned!

Follow Migration Expert Zone on Twitter!