We aim to introduce a new version of VMware Horizon FLEX every quarter, and so to kick off our 2017 release train, we’re delighted to announce VMware Horizon FLEX 1.10.
Before I get into what’s new, here’s a quick recap of what Horizon FLEX does:
Horizon FLEX delivers a reliable Windows or Linux experience to contractors, road warriors, developers and field workers, even when offline. It can extend the life of legacy applications using local virtual desktops on modern hardware.
The key to all this magic is an occasionally connected central policy server that dictates the behavior of remote hypervisors (VMware Fusion Pro and VMware Workstation Player). Today, we’ve updated that policy engine.
What’s New in Horizon FLEX 1.10
If I were to be brutally honest about Horizon FLEX, one of the complaints we get is that managing client license keys can be problematic: Distributing software keys to contractors can be a messy and an administratively heavy task. So, we fixed it. Administrators can now distribute Horizon FLEX client keys from the FLEX server. New users receive the correct license key when they connect to the Horizon FLEX server, even if they are running a client in free-trial mode.
When a major upgrade to the client occurs, administrators do not need to update the license key on each endpoint. Administrators can also set the minimum client version allowed for connection. This last point is key. There’s no point specifying a policy that the client can’t implement. Our new version number checking switch ensures that the policies you need to be enforced, will be.
This brings us to policies. One of the most loved features of Horizon FLEX is our control of how data is placed into, and taken out of, the virtual desktop. Since day one, we had the ability for a virtual desktop to share, or not share, a common clipboard with the host computer. Similarly, we’ve had the ability to control whether dragging and dropping files between the two desktops is permissible. In this release, we add direction to those policies. It makes sense in some cases to allow people to copy from a personal desktop and to paste into a corporate one (likewise, with dragging files). The new policy direction setting allows for this use case, but blocks attempts to remove data from the corporate machine. It’s a great usability tweak.
And talking of usability, while we’ve always been able to control whether the virtual desktop can share files with the physical machine, we’ve now given administrators the ability to allow users to select their own default local folders.
Tested Virtual Desktops
In this release, we have dropped support for Ubuntu 14.04 and added support for Ubuntu 16.04. The full list of operating systems that are tested and verified to run as virtual desktops is:
- Windows 10
- Windows 8.1
- Windows 7
- Windows XP
- Ubuntu 16.04
- Ubuntu 15.10
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows Server 2016
Supported Physical Desktops
The list of physically installed client operating systems (hosts) supported by Horizon FLEX 1.10 remains unchanged and is:
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- Windows 8.1 Enterprise
- Windows 8.1 Pro
- Windows 10
- OS X 10.9 Mavericks
- OS X 10.10 Yosemite
- OS X 10.11 El Capitan
- macOS 10.12 Sierra
Horizon FLEX is available to download today. Try Horizon FLEX now in our free hands-on lab.
