You can find a lot of instruction on the Internet and in your local bookstore on exactly how to install and use Terminal Services. But what's sorely lacking in many of those outlets is information on how best to get remote applications to your users. With minimal effort, you can quickly deploy a terminal server in your environment that hosts your set of needed applications. Yet doing so in a way that meets your users' expectations definitely requires a little extra thought.

If you are a terminal server administrator, take a step back from your remote applications infrastructure and consider the following: How are you deploying applications? Do you supply users with remote desktops or TS RemoteApps? Do users access their apps via static Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) files, a Web page, or desktop shortcuts?

In the end, how are you evaluating the experience your users undergo when they use terminal services applications? With the improvements to Terminal Services now available with Windows Server 2008, the best answers to these important questions might surprise you.