[3] Previous versions also supported macOS (OS X), Linux or UNIX, as well as Windows Phone, Symbian, iOS and Android mobile operating systems.

Microsoft introduced the Advanced Client to provide a solution to the problem where a managed laptop might connect to a corporate network from multiple locations and thus should not always download content from the same place within the enterprise (though it should always receive policy from its own site).

When an Advanced Client is within another location (SMS Site), it may use a local distribution point to download or run a program, which can conserve bandwidth across a WAN.

Both resulted in reducing confusion with other initialism as well as including the software in a Microsoft systems management portfolio.

[38] Throughout the life of the product, many acronyms, initialisms, and abbreviations have been used to refer to the software including However, Microsoft has stated and documented that the official name is one of the following[40][41][42][43]