Citrix XenDesktop Beta is available for public download

See here: http://citrixblogger.org/2008/02/27/xendesktop-beta/

Only thing is that they really don't explain it in full english, and there still using the Citrix Desktop Server name and the XenDesktop, just to confuse some more if you weren't already confused.  Got love that Citrix!

Unfortunately still very limited VMware ESX/VC integration in this release.

out of 18 articles on this page 10 are dedicated to one company: Citrix.

Brian, c'mon tell me how much sponsorship money is Citrix pouring into your venture?

Are you implying that Citrix represents 60% of the virtualization and application delivery market?

I've been to one of your gigs and frankly, your session amounted to little more than regurgitation of Citrix e,ployee blogs.

get on with the times. 

Anytime someone wants to blast Brian they hide behind the guest identity. I bet they are the same ones who know it all about SBC as a guest but yet are afraid to ask with a real identity.

Yeah, and half the posts are critical of Citrix as well. Not sure why that's so biased.

Brian's real focus is on Windows application delivery, and in that space, like it or not, Citrix dominates. If this site were to expand out into the networking side of application delivery (web apps), I'm sure we'd see a lot of F5 and others, not just Citrix NetScaler. And if it branched more into the datacenter side (app workloads running on servers), then we'd see a lot more of VMware. Those changes would be very cool, but that's not where Brian is focused today.

Citrix may not be 60% of the total application delivery market, but I don't think Brian's trying to cover the full application delivery market, just the Windows user tier app side (where Citrix is, in fact, 60% of the market, like it or not).

My take on the Ericom press release if just that - it's an Ericom press release.  Yes, there is a Microsoft quote in it, however, if it was something big it would be on Microsoft paper and not just Ericom paper. 

And lets remember that you get what you pay for - it's free!  If Ericom could charge for it, they would.  Ericom is a for profit business.  Obviously, customers don't see any merit in it and this is just a ploy for Ericom to try and seed the market.

you're right... Guess posting should be disable !

if you don't like Brian's point of view, please comment with argument. Be a professional, not a lamer ! 

Oké, like it or not, but there will always be critisisme...

I still like the work Brain and others are doing, and sure on Citrix there is no better place to be.

Now back on topic; i like the idea of provisioning server, but am vary disapointed in Xenserver.  At this moment VMWARE ESX is the only vaiable product for enterprise virtiualization. And it looks like Xenserver has a lot of catching up to do.

Perhaps you should check out Ron Oglesby's ESX vs XEN head to head video, you would be surprised

Microsoft doesn't issue press releases on their own paper about partners solutions or partners themselves?!?  Go to their website and check out their releases!  Doesn't happen all the time as it is very hard to get to happen, however, yes it does happen if the release really means something for Microsoft.

Customers don't see merit in technology that has to be "free".

I saw it on the Briforum Amsterdam 2007 site. You may have to ask Ron or Brian if it is on another link. If you have not been to a Briforum and registered then you may not be able to view it. Basically Ron found they were more or less even in performance. But the price difference is what gives Xen the thumbs up. I am both VMware VCP and Citrix CCIA so I am not in any way biased but when a client wants options you have to give them the truth.

Provisioning Server for Desktops will be included with XenDesktop (on a certain level) and Provisioning Server for Datacenters will be included with XenServer (on a certain level). This makes sense as each product targets a different buying center.

 -Frederick

GA is not end of year.

 I "played" around with the TechPreview, and it was exactly that.  A pre-release Beta.  It behaved as such.  There were some bugs, and the setup tool was in it's first iteration, as was most of the products in the release.

 I spent last weekend installing and recreating that TechPreview environment with the released Beta, and was blown away.  Brian, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.   Look for my blog shortly.

My comments on Xenserver are very simple:

1. Out of the box P2V only available for LINUX
2. Storage requirements for shared storage
3. interoperationality of vm's between XENservers (regards to local and shared storage)
4. Resource pooling, but no HA, Balooning
5. No snapshotting technology

This site is gonna be BORING without guest posting!

Whats the point in looking at head to head comparisons of ESX vs Xen from Briforum 2007, both companies have since released newer versions/features of their products, Citrix had probably just bought XenSource then.  Wouldn't it be more useful for a comparison based on what products (including betas) that both companies are offering today to next 6 months?  Not having seen Ron's presentation, but I could guess that answers to 60% of comments will be 'its in the latest version or next release'.

"For the record, we are not sponsored by Citrix, Ericom, Microsoft, or any other company. Our venture is independent. Our articles are independent and not sponsored."

And so what if you were? It's your site Brian, write whatever you want! The reading stats will determine whether or not it's of interest. Anyhow, every regular reader knows you would have the integrity to say things as you saw them, even if your site were to be sponsored. But don't get me wrong, I like websites with no advertising so keep it that way if possible!

Come on Ericom guys, buy yourselves a six foot by six foot deep fat frier, take that enormous chip off your shoulder, cook it, eat it and get on with it. We know you, we've heard of you, we know you do the same sort of thing as Citrix, now give us all a break. You're tiny, Citrix are big, what do you expect people to be more interested in.

Maybe it is time to deny Guest posts? so what if there are fewer comments? if people want to comment, they should stand by their comments or spit trash talk on their own walls instead of wasting everyone elses time? :-)

 /LamerSmurf

No P2V is a big down point for me. XenServer is newly aquired, non-industry standard, and less features than VMWare, and the price is only 35% less than VMWare. There is no way I could sell this to leadership.

XenDesktop looks great but you need 2 XenServers to run it. Do most of you have 64 bit servers with AMD-V chipset sitting around the desktop for testing?