Why was Batch User Manager discontinued?

Answer

Zensoft stopped development on Batch User Manager shortly after Microsoft acquired DesktopStandard Corp in October 2006 and integrated their PolicyMaker software into Windows. This meant the capabilities of Batch User Manager were directly available through Group Policy Preferences (GPP), so long as all the clients were running Windows XP SP2 or higher (albeit in a less-secure fashion than Batch User Manager).

Zensoft continued to offer licenses for Batch User Manager until 2011 to support legacy installations. However, most organizations had long since upgraded to at least Windows XP SP2 on all client machines, and the Microsoft-provided solution was so convenient that we had no reason to continue selling Batch User Manager.

In May 2014, Microsoft realized the insecurity of using GPP for changing passwords, and they entirely removed the Group Policy Preferences functionality with MS14-025. By then, however, our codebase was long obsolete (predating Active Directory) and we would have had to have created an entirely new product to reintroduce Batch User Manager. As it seemed likely that Microsoft would again provide their own solution, we decided against this. In fact, shortly thereafter Microsoft offered their own local administrator password solution.

Last Reviewed

This article was last reviewed on 31 May 2018.

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