Windows Admin Center roadmap: What’s new and what’s coming

Microsoft tried the "web based" approach in the 90s and realized it was bad, so they invented MMC. MMC is extensible and highly configurable. You can make console files that contain only the tools you need, and even lock it down to share those console files with help desk staff, etc. It remains far superior to a webpage. No one would have been opposed to a web front end to MMC, but that's not what MS did. Microsoft could have (should have) "modernized" the MMC platform instead of creating WAC. I've never met an IT pro who prefers WAC over MMC. I guess this is another case of MS missing/ignoring the needs of their customers. WAC has some cool features, but those could have been added to MMC.

Prasidh, As I replied to Davanna below. Here are some of my concerns: It is two fold. One, native always beats a web application. I've tested the new WAC and it still is slow compared to the old MMC which are supposed to be no longer under development. Second, with a native client there is tighter integration to the os itself, allowing for things like smartcard and token authentication, which are not possible when you are using WAC in either a desktop install or a gateway install. All around, it is better to have native tooling. That is why so many people are asking for a native client. In addition, this is Windows!!! The community at large wants a great native experience. WAC should have always been a native client first, and a web portal second like many of the system center products.