VMware Horizon

VMware Horizon View Clients 2.1 Update

by Ben Chong, Product Management End-User Computing

VMware® has updated the Horizon View™ Windows client to 5.4, and introduced version 2.1 of the Linux, Mac, Android, iOS and Windows Store clients. These updates offer improvements in printing, multimedia and mobile accessibility.

No-fuss Printing

The Linux and Mac clients now support the same virtual printing capability that our Windows client has had for some time: the list of local printers that have been configured on the Horizon View client endpoint is shared with or redirected to the Horizon View desktop. These local printers can be directly attached USB or network printers on a home or branch office network. The user does not have to install drivers on the Horizon View desktop or dedicate the printer to one environment or the other.

This feature is particularly important for remote end users and branch offices. The Horizon View admin does not need to maintain various printer drivers on the Horizon View desktop images and the end user can print to a local printer without extra setup.

Microsoft Lync for Microsoft Windows 8

We announced support for Microsoft Lync calls from a Horizon View desktop in March. At that time, the only configuration available was a Windows 7 client system with a Windows 7 Horizon View desktop. With the Horizon View Client for Windows version 5.4, we now also support Windows 8 client systems.

Customers can leverage the power of the Microsoft Lync to make rich voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) and videoconferencing calls without negatively affecting the datacenter server or network.

To use Microsoft Lync from your Windows 8 client, you must first install the Microsoft plug-in from here. Please note that this update does not support 64 bit systems, Windows 8 View desktops or the Horizon View Client for Windows Store.

Even More

Horizon View users can now use Skype, Google Hangout and Webex from their Horizon View desktops. The Windows client, in conjunction with the updated Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack 2, adds a new  Real-time Audio-Video capability. When the user launches a multimedia communications software package on the Horizon View desktop, the default microphone and last-used webcam are immediately available on the Horizon View desktop.

To read more about the multimedia enhancements in the newly released Feature Pack for Horizon View check out Tony Hyunh’s blog.

Download the New VMware Horizon View Clients Today

As always, the latest VMware Horizon View Clients are available for download here!

What Horizon View Clients are you using?  Tell us more on Twitter and Facebook.