Application Virtualization comparison chart

Jun 19

Application Virtualization comparison chart

After reviewing VMware’s ThinApp I thought to myself:
How about the other application virtualization solution’s features? I know a couple of application virtualization products, but I don’t know exactly what the differences are.

OK, let’s google for an Application virtualization comparison chart… mmm, not there. Why not make one?
So we did. My colleague Matthijs Haverink and I have written a comparison chart with the following products:

* This is Softgrid 4.2. From version 4.5 it’s called App-V. When App-V is released, this chart will be updated.

This comparison chart will be expanded with other solutions in the near future, but this is a good start.
Over the next few weeks, we will publish a review of all products in the chart, starting with Installfree by Matthijs.

Feel free to comment on this chart and when neccesary, we will correct the chart.

Download the Application virtualization comparison chart. (pdf)

19 Responses to “Application Virtualization comparison chart”

Wouter Heije Says:
June 20th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Looks good! Keep up the good work!

[Reply]
David Marshall Says:
June 20th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Excellent chart. And you are right, there really isn’t much out there from independent sources to try and bring together all of these application virtualization technologies on one easy to read comparison chart like this. Good work! Looking forward to the updates.

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Shawn Says:
June 20th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
What was the criteria for some products not to be included in the chart?

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Jose Ruelas Says:
June 21st, 2008 at 1:47 am
Just to make a clarification.

Landesk Application virtualization is OEMing Thinstall (before it were bought by VMware) so actually that should not be included

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Sven Huisman Says:
June 21st, 2008 at 6:18 am
that is correct and exactly the reason why we did not include Landesk.

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Andy Says:
June 21st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
You suggest that SoftGrid is user mode. This is not True. SoftGrid is kernel mode and as such can and does crash the OS on occasion !
If you know otherwise please provide your source for this information. The reason it needs a kernel mode driver is because it create a virtual drive.

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Vincent Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Hi,
Maybe some other vendor could be interesting to mention. That vendor is InstallFree (http://www.installfree.com); You can compare it to VMWare Thinapp, but it goes a little further than that. First of all their product InstallFree desktop let’s the administrator create an executable, but also dynamically assigned virtual applications through a client. This makes that in your chart all the no’s at VMWare Thinapp are now “YES” with InstallFree. The only disadvantage is that there is no support for 16-Bit applications.
And the story gets even better … InstallFree Desktop virtualizes the full user environment so your desktop becomes portable.
So i would recommend everyone to take a look at the InstallFree website or ask me for more information if needed!

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Vincent Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Never mind about my last comment, i didn’t notice InstallFree

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Hessel Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Hi Sven and Matthijs,

Nice compact overview ! One remark\question:

Wouldn’t it be more logical to include the combined functionality of SVS and Appstream (they call it SVS Pro). SVS was and is in some aspects superiour to other virtualization techniques (speed, interoperability etc).

best regards
Hessel Wellema
Scense.

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Tom Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Sven,

Nice work on this. very useful. I just noticed one point regarding Add-ons on the chart that didn’t match my experience. You actually can package IE plugins with application streaming. The plugin runs in isolation on top the locally installed version of IE.

Tom

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JP Evenhuis Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Respect for this chart.

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Pankaj Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Comparison test - Run from Web (http):
The chart shows Softgrid apps cannot be published on the web; from what I have tested native sprj files cannot be published, but if you convert them to msi, they can be published.

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John Says:
July 1st, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Hello Sven and Matthijs,

Very Useful & Informative chart!

With regard to Shawn’s post #6, and Hessel’s (Scense) post #12 - I’m interested to know why SVS Pro was excluded as it would be useful to now how SVS stacks up against the products in your chart.

Regards John

[Reply]
Sven Huisman reply on July 1st, 2008 1:44 pm:
Hi John,

We did not include SVS Pro, because it was unclear to us in what way SVS Pro was integraded in Appstream nowadays. We are right now examining the differences and overlap between Appstream and SVS pro. As soon as we get this clear, we either combine SVS Pro with appstream in the chart or make it a separate collumn.

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