Can Microsoft "change the game" with Terminal Services over the next five years?

The annual MVP conference at Microsoft's campus is Redmond is a great opportunity for the twenty-or-so Terminal Server MVPs to spend a few days with Microsoft's Terminal Server product group. While most of the conversations are NDA, one cool thing that the TS team has done over the past few years is that they (Microsoft) have asked us (the MVPs) to make a 45-minute presentation to them about where we see the industry going, what's important for Microsoft to do, and what features...

Posted by Brian Madden on April 29, 2008 -

Brian Madden's vendor relationship disclosures

The Brian Madden Company is a tiny company--just a handful of employees. We don't have an office. We don't have any patents. And we don't have any "real" intellectual property. The only thing we have is our reputation. But one thing has remained consistent since I wrote that first book seven years ago, and that is my independence when it comes to vendors. Now that our website has become so popular and our articles and blogs are regularly getting 20, 30, and 40 comments, I'd like to take a moment to clarify what I mean when I say that I'm "independent."

Posted by Brian Madden on April 23, 2008 - Category: Our Company

Citrix Project Alice: Reverse Seamless Windows

Everyone is familiar with the concept of seamless windows, where only a remote application's window is visible on the client instead of the entire remote desktop. "Reverse seamless" is the flip-side of that concept. It's when a client device uses a full-screen remote windows desktop, but then individual LOCAL applications running on the client "poke through" the remote window to appear as individual applications within the remote desktop session.

Posted by Brian Madden on April 22, 2008 -

Conversations from the MVP Summit: PowerShelling Citrix and Terminal Server login scripts?

I'm at the MVP Summit this week. I was eating lunch the other day with Steve Greenberg, Benny Tritsch, and Tim Mangan. We got to talking about how all these "application frameworks" (Java, .NET Framework, Silverlight, etc.) have to load in every user session on a Terminal Server and how slow that is.

Posted by Brian Madden on April 17, 2008 -

Accessing Windows XP and Vista via Citrix XenDesktop ICA (portICA). How does this really work?

PortICA is the name of the technology that "ports" the ICA protocol stack from Presentation Server / Terminal Server to a workstation OS. In other words, portICA lets you use the ICA protocol to connect to a Windows XP or Vista host acting as the server (for a VDI or blade PC scenario). Citrix is using PortICA instead of the built-in RDP-based remote desktop option in their upcoming XenDesktop product.

Posted by Brian Madden on April 14, 2008 -

Rumors of IBM or Cisco buying Citrix?

The markets are buzzing today on the rumor (here and here, for example), that either IBM or Cisco might try to buy Citrix. Of course the world is full of rumors, but there's at least anecdotal evidence that people are listening to this one as Citrix's stock moved up about 7% today, which is the biggest single-day move they've had in a while. (Although half-way through the day the stock has dropped about half that new value.)

Posted by Brian Madden on April 09, 2008 -

Have you heard of Citrix's Advanced Products Group?

Citrix is a big company with dozens (hundreds?) of groups, teams, divisions, and sections. One such group is the "Advanced Products Group," (or "AdProd" as they're known internally). AdProd's goal is to research, innovate, and incubate emerging and disruptive technologies. They're typically looking into the future about two years ahead of the product groups, which means that AdProd folks are generally thinking about things that are four or five years away from being part of an actual Citrix product.

Posted by Brian Madden on April 08, 2008 -

Apparently that Luflogix thing was fake

I thought it was too good to be true, but I guess I fell for the Luflogix rumor too. I received this photo from the alleged Luflogix product team

Posted by Brian Madden on April 02, 2008 - Category: Community Fun

Wow! TS session-to-VM portability from Aussie startup Luflogix

Imagine the scenario where a user could start a virtual desktop session on a shared Terminal Server. Then after awhile, the user could "stream" that session from the Terminal Server to their laptop, and take that session with them offline running in a local Vista VM. This is what Brisbane-based Luflogix promises to deliver in the second quarter this year.

Posted by Brian Madden on April 01, 2008 -