Best way to deploy Office 2007?

[DY]

Looking for some advice. We are currently running Office 2000 Pro and have
just purchased a company wide Office 07 Pro Plus license. We have 2000
deployed via a GPO computer software installation package, set to uninstall
when it falls out of scope. We have around 90 computers on site, and another
30 or so remote users. I've found that I can't use OCT with group policy (at
least not in one step), since it no longer creates a .mst file. I know I can
use the config.xml file, but it seems that the OCT offers many more
customization options. So my question is, what's the best deployment method?
Should I stick to group policy, or is another option better? We're not
willing to purchase SMS, but possibly System Center essentials. Also, I
believe BDD can only be used with Vista clients for software deployment. Is
this true? We have all XP Pro SP2 clients now. Any advice would be much
appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Catherine [MSFT]]

Another GPO option is to use a startup script:
Use Group Policy to assign computer startup scripts for 2007 Office
deployment
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179134.aspx
You'd be able to use all the config.xml options and the OCT with that
method.

General recommendation is to use SMS or Systems Center Essentials. But if
you can't, GPO with startup scripts is a good option.

 

[Marspe]

Try it out first in the Labcast, Desktop Deployment Planning, Deploying, and
Managing the 2007 Office System on
http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/technetoffice.aspx.