Forefront and SBS 2008+ 64-bit

Moved from this wiki post to a connect bug:

Forefront feedback part 2 | Microsoft Connect:
https://connect.microsoft.com/SBS/feedback/details/680019/forefront-feedback-part-2

I will not ask that the post be deleted until the partner is aware that the comment has been posted into a connect bug that will be looked at by the product team.

Well, I must say that there has been great for small busineses who want to deploy Forefront Protection Suite (FPS) especially in a single server scenario. Its either one requirement cannot be met or there is just too much complexity and cost-prohibitive requirements associated witht the entire idea of "Forefront" compared with other Anti-Malware solutions.

Some of the issues include (much more issues abound):

Forefront cannot be installed on SBS 2008 64-bit.

Forefront components cannot be installed on a single server.

Forefront requires at least SQL Server Standard

Forefront requires System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)

Well, it is obvious, to say the least, Forefront is not for the faint-of-heart and definitely not for the small business environment, which is why those businesses remain with other anti-malware products even though they would like to give Forefront a shot and perhaps will stick with it. Microsoft needs to deliver an SBS-focused Forefront Protection Suite sooner than later. The same components of the standard Forefront Protection Suite but optimized in a package for deployment on SBS (32- and 64-bit) and deployment from SBS to network clients. The installation package should be able to check for installation requirements and install/enable those pre-requisites then move onto installing Forefront components. And to add, it should also have SQL Express or compact edition of some sort integrated for SBS Standard Edition which does not include SQL Server Standard, this is simply because if SQL is a requirement for SMBs that have SBS Standard Edition, they will simply remain with competing security solutions that have their own database accounted for without an additional penny in cost or database configuration tasks/headaches. One would think this would already be taken care of by now but perhaps it has not been that obvious to Microsoft. Anyway, in the meantime competing security products prvail on SBS networks. As far as I know, none of our SBS clients are moving to Forefront anytime soon due to all these issues that need to be straightened out and a clear path is available for SBS networks. And to make things worse, presales calls to Microsoft does not help one bit, they simply refuse to provide information that is supposed to help one buy their products under the "you are not a Certified Partner" clause, I guess Registered partners do not count even in presales. One would think this only applies in technical support instances. What a flawed policy, I don;t know of any other company that refuses to provide presales product details unless you first subscribe as a "Certified Partner". Well, I guess the several thousand licenses we renew each year will stay with competitors. Its Microsoft's loss, I guess.