Virtualfuture.info

I stumbled on a nice post on TechStrategyPartners from George Gilbert and Juergen Urbanski. It gives a clear view on which areas VMware will be putting their money on and why. It’s a pretty large piece of reading material and I had a couple of “duh” moments but the core of what they’re telling comes down to this:

We’ve all seen the light concerning server consolidation, it’s (becoming) commodity. So what, at this moment, are the areas where the money is ? According to the authors (VMware stakeholders), VMware has defined 3 waves they are setting out to ride the next period : Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft released the resource kit tool for App-V. The Resource kit is a selection of tools that can be used to help you manage your App-V 4.5 estate. So if you are using App-V, you might need these tools: 

• Application Virtualization Application Listing Tool
• Application Virtualization Cache Configuration Tool
• Application Virtualization Client Log Parser Utility
• Application Virtualization SFT Parser Tool
• Application Virtualization Dynamic Suite Composition Tool

We (Matthijs Haverink and I) have updated our application virtualization chart with the latest release of Citrix XenApp 5.0, Microsoft App-V and Xenocode 2008 SP1. We also changed Symantec Appstream in the chart by combining it with SVS pro, a more commonly used combination. Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft RTMs App-V today. With App-V 4.5 a lot of new features are introduced. One of them is Dynamic Suite Composition (DSC), which is just a fancy term for application interconnectivity:

we have introduced a feature called Dynamic Suite Composition (DSC) that is targeted at solving the plug-in and middleware issues specifically. This feature allows an administrator to dynamically suite different plug-in and middleware application packages together with a primary application so that the applications can interact with each other, while maintaining only a single package for each application and reducing total package sizes.

Another new feature is streaming over HTTP(S). I also thought there would be a possibility to create standalone packages (like you can with ThinApp), but this is not the case. You can create MSI-packages and put them on CD:

The publishing and delivery of applications through a standalone MSI-based installer, which can be delivered offline via a CD/DVD or deployed via an existing software distribution mechanism that the customer currently has deployed.

Our application comparison chart will be updated very soon. Actually, we will have an updated version ready by next week, right after Citrix releases the new XenApp.

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:

• Microsoft Softgrid *
• VMware ThinApp
• Installfree Bridge
• Citrix Application streaming
• Symantec Appstream
• Xenocode Virtual Application Studio

* 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)

Update September 9th 2008: Download the updated chart.

Microsoft announces that that App-V 4.5 Release Candidate is now available. Some of the new features are:

• HTTP streaming
• virtual application interaction

Anyone may download the RC via the Microsoft Connect site.

You probably already knew that starting with version 4.5 the official name for Softgrid will be Microsoft Application Virtualization. Microsoft now announced that there will also be a new official short name: App-V.

App-V and Hyper-V, I must say, that doesn’t sound so bad. What’s next? Terminal-V, Mail-V, DB-V?

Read the article on the App-V blog.