Companies considering their options in application provisioning in 2008 could be interested in a new tool that checks preparedness for migrations to Windows Vista or Microsoft’s on-demand application streaming program, Application Virtualisation, formerly known as SoftGrid.

AppDNA’s AppTitude 2.0 automates software testing to assess application compatibility status, a classic problem for companies planning a transition to a new operating system. The new release includes support for applications that are not in Windows Installer format to over complete estates of applications.

“Only 20 to 25 per cent of applications exist in the MSI (Windows Installer) format so we’ve built in batch processing, using a virtual machine to capture the installation process and analyse the files,” said Paul Schnell, chief technology officer at AppDNA.

Similarly, the Application Virtualisation capability will let firms discover which applications will and will not work with Microsoft’s program for dynamically-delivered programs.

“There’s a proportion of applications that won’t work or require modification,” Schnell said. “You have to iterate a few times and it’s quite time consuming.”

Schnell added that programs that interact at a low level with the operating system and programs that contain drivers or depend on interlinked components are particularly problematic.

“Microsoft Office is not suited to the SoftGrid environment although technically you can make it work,” he said. “It makes more sense to deploy Office as part of your base build and provide direct access to it.”

AppDNA, which was recently split off from UK services firm Camwood, can shave up to 40 per cent of time from Vista migration projects, the firm claimed.

An AppTitude user at a leading investment bank with over 1,000 distinct applications across Europe, the Middle East and Africa said that the tool had reduced the analysis phase of migration projects by 25 per cent.

“It gives us a red/amber/green status of what work works, what might work and what definitely won’t work,” he said. “It’s very quick and gives us a nice report we can send to the application development community so they can work on any problems.”

Separately, the InsideMicrosoft blog has posted details of a document detailing Microsoft plans for Windows Mobile 7. The document suggests that the release will be a radical departure that makes extensive use of touch and gesture, in what would appear to be an indirect compliment to Apple’s iPhone.

In a statement, Microsoft said: “Microsoft is always innovating on Windows Mobile and as such we’re always working on future versions. Today Microsoft and its partners are focused on helping organizations and individuals take advantage of Windows Mobile 6 devices to stay connected while mobile, without concessions. However, we have no announcements regarding Windows Mobile at this time.”

Microsoft is expected to detail plans for version 6.1 of Windows Mobile next month at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.