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.
Why Bundle ThinApp?
Horizon View & ThinApp – This solution continues to simplify desktop management by streamlining application delivery, eliminating application conflicts, and updating applications without end-user disruption.
Packing & Pricing Update: No changes to packaging here. View Premier is rebranded to Horizon View.
Horizon Mirage & ThinApp – ThinApp complements the Horizon Mirage image layering technology by including applications that need isolation or cross platform support. This means Horizon Mirage & ThinApp together can manage 100% of the application types. Read more.
Packing & Pricing Update: Horizon Mirage now includes both ThinApp AND Fusion Professional at a lower price.
Horizon Workspace & ThinApp – Packaged ThinApps can be delivered through Horizon Workspace to allow the management and provisioning of web, SaaS, and Windows apps allowing seamless end user access across multiple devices.
What about support for existing ThinApp customers?
Customers will continue to receive technical support and maintenance support for at least 18 months after the EOA date. Customers have until December 15, 2013 to buy ThinApp standalone. After that date, ThinApp will be available in Horizon View, Horizon Mirage, Horizon Workspace and Horizon Suite. Read the FAQs.
The VMware team is actively working on improving ThinApp so stay tuned for more announcements this year.
I’m tired of hearing about ThinApp, what about View Enterprise?
All the features of View Enterprise are included in Horizon View, previously known as View Premier. The last chance buy is September 30, 2013. Support for View Enterprise will continue through the standard product lifecycle policies. The end of technical guidance for View Enterprise 4.x is November 16, 2016 and for View 5.x is September 14th, 2018. Read the FAQs or check out the support lifecycle policies for more information.
