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Tag Archives: ThinApp

Hullabaloo About Application Layering in VMware Horizon Mirage

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By Tina de Benedictis, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, End-User Computing, VMware

What is the hullabaloo about application layering in VMware Horizon Mirage? Application layering allows you to

  • Create different application layers for different sets of users, such as a specific department or job role
  • Easily update an application layer and then distribute the update to all users assigned to that application layer
  • Include in an application layer both natively installed applications and virtual application packages created with VMware ThinApp
  • Isolate application layers from the base layer, which contains the operating system

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ThinApp EOA – Where is it going? Nowhere!

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by Diana Tsao, Product Marketing, End-User Computing

Last week, VMware announced the Horizon Suite, a comprehensive platform for workforce mobility to connect users to their data, applications, and desktops. Along with delivering new features and functionality, we have streamlined the packages for the Horizon family of products.

Packaging changes include the End of Availability of VMware ThinApp and VMware View Enterprise.  Don’t worry – End of Availability does not mean End of Life!  EOA means the current packaging will be discontinued, but the functionality is still available. End of Life (EOL) means the product will no longer be offered nor be supported by VMware.

ThinApp is absolutely not going away as application virtualization is a core enabling technology for the Horizon Suite.  To that end, we have included it in ALL of the Horizon family products.

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Licensing for the Mobile Workforce: VMware Horizon Suite 1.0 Licensing

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By Tina de Benedictis, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, End-User Computing, VMware

vmware-horizon-suite-logo

Are you wondering about licensing for the new VMware Horizon Suite and each of its component bundles? Following is a quick guide to Horizon Suite licensing.

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VMware Dominates Reader’s Choice Award

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By: Ben Goodman, Product Line Marketing Manager, EUC Cloud Marketing

At VMware we take tremendous pride in our products and like any software company, we covet positive reviews from press and analysts. However, the real proof that we are building quality products that solve real customer problems is through happy customers. That is why we are extremely proud of the recent spade of reader’s choice award wins customers have selected VMware end-user computing products for in the December 2012/January 2013 issue of Virtualization Review.

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Virtualizing the VMware View Client using ThinApp

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By Joshua Spencer, End User Computing Specialist, VMware

Introduction

Over the years there has been much debate about which display protocol provides the best performance while being the most efficient. I think the debate is finally over, and the blog post you can find  here goes a long way toward ending it. Leveraging the PCoIP protocol and the PCoIP Secure Gateway Server, VMware is helping end users stay connected from anywhere, at any time, using any device they choose.

Challenge

We can think of connecting to a  VMware View desktop using PCoIP as a client/server application. The virtual machine, which resides in the datacenter, gets the VMware View Agent installed. Because PCoIP is completely host-side rendered, this agent acts as the PCoIP server. On the end point device, we install the VMware View Client, which serves as the PCoIP client. The PCoIP server (View Agent) encrypts and compresses display information and sends it down to the View Client where the display is rendered on the screen.

What this means is that the View Client has to be installed on every end point that will connect to a VMware View desktop. Installing the client is a simple process of connecting to a website and running the executable.

The client includes two drivers: one for  Virtual Printing and another for Advanced USB Redirection. Because of this, the View Client requires local administrative privileges for installation. While local admin privileges are not usually an issue on personal or IT-managed devices, I have seen a number of customers encounter situations where they cannot install the VMware View Client. VMware View is a highly adopted technology in the healthcare industry. Healthcare professionals often roam to multiple clinical sites throughout their network, and View provides a means of accessing a standard desktop workspace from any location. But what happens if he or she cannot install the View Client due to lack of permissions on a given PC? Likewise, I have seen this come up on public kiosk-like computers. For example, you are at a public library and you want to connect to your View desktop to get some work done. Library and other public-facing machines are often locked down, preventing the installation of any software, including the View Client.

Resolution

One solution to this problem is to leverage a simple, yet powerful, tool called VMware ThinApp. With ThinApp we can virtualize the VMware View Client software, allowing it to run on any Windows device regardless of privilege level. ThinApp will take all of the files and registry keys that make up the View Client and produce a single executable file.

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VMware ThinApp 4.7.2: Minor release, major new features for Horizon!

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By Tina de Benedictis, Technical Marketing Manager, Enterprise Desktop, End User Computing, VMware

Do not let the three digits in the 4.7.2 release number fool you—the newly released ThinApp 4.7.2 has some exciting features that people have been asking for.

This new release of VMware ThinApp includes:

  • A mechanism for updating ThinApp packages in Horizon Application Manager
  • A new relink –h command to enable prior ThinApp packages for Horizon
  • RemoveSandboxOnStart, a new Package.ini parameter

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ThinApp streaming in Horizon? Yes!

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By Tina de Benedictis, Technical Marketing Manager, Enterprise Desktop, End User Computing, VMware

Download mode used to be the only choice for ThinApp packages offered through VMware Horizon Application Manager. Now, with Horizon 1.5, ThinApp streaming mode is also an option.

ThinApp streaming mode is especially important for users accessing Horizon applications through VMware View stateless desktops.

How do you enable ThinApp packages for streaming mode in Horizon?

The Horizon Agent, not ThinApp, handles the enablement of ThinApp packages for streaming deployment mode in Horizon. When you install the Horizon Agent on an endpoint, the VMware Horizon Agent Configuration window allows you to select download or streaming deployment mode.

Horizon-Application-Manager-ThinApp-Streaming-Agent-Install

Streaming deployment mode is the default.

When you select download or streaming mode during Horizon Agent installation, it applies to all ThinApp packages for that endpoint.

Questions?

If you have more questions about ThinApp streaming mode in Horizon, see VMware ThinApp virtual application streaming in Horizon Application Manager. This Knowledge Base article answers the following questions and more:

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Vote Early and Vote for As Many VMworld Sessions As You Want

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By Tina de Benedictis, Technical Marketing Manager, Enterprise Desktop, End User Computing, VMware

If you have not yet cast your vote for VMworld 2012 sessions, delay no longer! The deadline for voting is Friday the 8th of June. Take a few minutes to look over the submitted sessions and vote for your favorites.

If you want more End User Computing sessions at VMworld, find those sessions and vote for them.

VMworld_Thumbs_Up_Icon

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What Is the Business Case for Desktop Virtualization?

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By Tina de Benedictis, Technical Marketing Manager, Enterprise Desktop

All of the hoopla about the cloud—does it apply to your organization? Can you trust your data and applications to the cloud? How can you take the first step and give the cloud a try?

VMware has announced its End User Computing journey to the cloud, and VMware View™ and ThinApp™ are the first steps on the path. You can keep the rest of your organization as is and begin by placing your user desktops in the cloud. On those VMware View desktops, you can place applications that have been virtualized with ThinApp. Both of these solutions save your IT department a bundle of time, and what organization doesn’t have a backlog of other projects for IT?  To delve into technical details on saving time with desktop virtualization, see The Business Case for Desktop Virtualization.

The VMware End User Computing Journey to the Cloud

At VMworld 2011, VMware announced products for each of the steps on the VMware End User Computing journey to the cloud. Some of these products are part of the VMware product set already, and others are coming to fruition in 2012. Here is the overall product mapping for the journey to the cloud:

End_User_Computing_Vision_VMware

In this journey, Horizon™ Application Manager is the secure, policy-driven broker for desktops, applications, and data in the cloud. Horizon Application Manager delivers these cloud services to end users on a variety of stationary and mobile platforms, including those that users choose as part of the bring-your-own-device trend. In this post-PC vision, VMware embraces the need to deliver legacy Windows and enterprise client/server applications alongside newer application technologies.

These are the VMware products for the End User Computing journey to the cloud:

  • VMware View: Virtual desktops as a managed service
  • VMware ThinApp: Virtual applications as a managed service
  • Project AppBlast™: HTML5-based delivery of legacy applications via a web browser
  • Project Octopus: Secure data share and sync
  • Horizon Application Manager: Now, policy-based management of applications (SaaS, web applications, ThinApp virtualized Windows applications, and enterprise applications). Soon, policy-based management of all public and private cloud services (desktops, applications, and data).
  • Horizon Mobile: A secure, managed, and policy-driven virtual smartphone for work, isolated and protected inside a personal smartphone

Cloud-based social/collaborative applications, designed for mobility:

  • Zimbra™: Open-source email and collaboration
  • Strides™: Social task management

Watch this video about the VMware End User Computing vision:

Building the Platform for the Post-PC Era

The First Step in the Journey

Your first step in the journey to the cloud is to try View and ThinApp. In this initial setup, View is the broker between end users and the cloud of virtual desktops, applications, and data.

End_User_Computing_Vision_First_Step_VMware

If you are ready to refresh physical desktop computers, now is the time to consider the virtual desktop solution. The budget planned for the desktop refresh can be diverted to virtual desktops.

View and vSphere

Built on the industry-leading virtualization platform, VMware vSphere™, VMware View enables you to deliver virtual desktops to any device with all of the benefits of centralized enterprise desktop management. You can deploy desktop instances rapidly from secure datacenters to facilitate high availability and disaster recovery, protect the integrity of enterprise information, and remove data from local devices that are susceptible to theft or loss.

Saving Time with Desktop Virtualization

VMware View desktop virtualization not only benefits from the sophisticated features of a vSphere infrastructure, but View also frees up time for your desktop administrators. Managing physical desktop computers is something that every IT director wants to make more efficient, but it is difficult to save time with an old model and with tools made for the old model. The model of individual physical computers with Windows applications and a web browser is being replaced. The new paradigm is a user “view” into the cloud to access a personal desktop, applications, and data.

The Business Case for Desktop Virtualization white paper compares time spent on physical desktop management to time spent in virtual desktop management with View. Your IT department can save 57% of the time currently spent on desktop administration with a VMware View virtual desktop implementation. The more users you have, the more hours you save by converting to a View virtual desktop implementation.

You have a list of other projects for your IT staff to work on, right? Get the details on how you can save time in desktop administration with VMware View: The Business Case for Desktop Virtualization.

 

 

 

ThinApp 4.6.2 Is Now Available!

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VMware ThinApp Core Team is proud to announce the release of VMware ThinApp 4.6.2!

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