Michael Keen's Blog

Home

Syndication

Citrix Delivery Center Live event post mortem; What did you think?

Written on Sep 10 2008

Filed under: Citrix

3,689 views, 17 comments

by Michael Keen

I attended the Citrix Delivery Center Live event yesterday and I have to say that I was very impressed with the medium and format that Citrix put together with the virtual tradeshow. I think it was very well executed and showed the someone at Citrix Product Marketing was thinking OTB. Awesome job folks.

The presentations were thorough and covered the topics well, although at times I felt like it was going way too fast, but Citrix covered that by making the slide decks available before the sessions so that following along and taking notes was somewhat easier. It wasn't your typical 'death by powerpoint' either. The presenters were doing more than just reading and actually giving some good info.

After, and in between sessions, you could go to the virtual product booths and chat live with the presenters and other Citrites that were hanging out. I made it to pretty much every booth and just dropped in on some of the booth chats, it seems a little slow, so I don't know if the turnout was low for the whole event, or people are even more shy online. I can't believe that though.

I personally enjoyed Bill Hartwick's presentation on "XenApp 5: Never Install a Windows Application Again". Bill did a great job covering the business aspects as well as some of the high level technical topics. Another personal favorite was Calvin Hsu's "Create the Best Desktop Virtualization Solution with XenApp 5". Calvin covered all aspects, business and technical. There were other great sessions as well from many other Citrix folks, so an all-around thanks and good job to the presenters and moderators.

I think all folks that attended the event got a chance to ask questions in a relaxed environment (your home or office) and were shown some of the products and features that are available and why and when to use them.

What did you think of the event and it's content?

Comments

Kata Tank wrote Just Great

on Wed, Sep 10 2008 6:50 AM

Just great... Avoiding traveling for a couple of hours of good info...

Chat were slow too but answers were good.

Haven't yet try the recorded version as it seems you could continue to go and see replayed session fro 90 days. Will try next week.

Rodrigo Morais wrote Recorded version?

on Wed, Sep 10 2008 8:48 AM

I didn't see any links to a recorded version, where is it?

Rodrigo Morais wrote Re: Recorded version?

on Wed, Sep 10 2008 8:53 AM

Forget it, I found it at Conference Hall

Guest wrote xeanpp 5

on Wed, Sep 10 2008 5:22 PM

Well...As I'm really just intrested in the old winframe,xenap thing I saw my Disney World (Summit) trip fly away. So. the version 5 thing is basically the same old v 4.5 with the full craziness of the management consoles. Still humming along with v 4. This http://www.citrix.com/xenappcomparativematrix is utterly painful to look at with all of it's gross misstatements regarding the difference between the versions. BAH!

Guest wrote Nothing really new.

on Wed, Sep 10 2008 7:49 PM

I am not sure I would want to go to Xen 5. I did not see anything that was really monumental.

Perhaps being able to try Xen on Windows 2008 is the best reason.

Can I have servers in a 4.5 farm with 5.0 servers on Windows2008 simultaneously?

Guest wrote Re: Nothing really new.

on Wed, Sep 10 2008 8:30 PM

It's not recommended, but it will work. Basically, you have to add servers running XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008 to farms with servers running CPS 4.5 w/ Feature Pack 1. Mixed farms with XenApp 5 and CPS versions earlier than 4.5 w/ FP1 are not supported.

Jason Conomos wrote XenApp 5 for me

on Thu, Sep 11 2008 12:52 AM

The main thing for me with XenApp 5 on W2k3 is the upgraded functionality for application streaming. It being HTTP is a bonus but it is the way applications should be able to talk to eachother is exciting. I was surprised they did not really cover off PVS 5 though and the VHD format. But I was glad to see the NetScalers in there. All in all I found it very convient and my questions were answered.

Neil Spellings wrote No new XenApp server on 2003

on Thu, Sep 11 2008 1:39 AM

Its interesting that XenApp 5 on 2003 is identical to 4.5 FP1 - the core product has not changed (which makes farm upgrades a doddle - you just upgrade the peripheral components)

I am dissapointed that other features like the UPM and RAVE multimedia enhancements were left out, but the new WI and Edgesight look great.

Hopefully there will be a XenApp 5 FP1 which includes those components.

Those who don't use Edgesight or Streaming - what have they got for their last years SA payments - an upgrade to the license server and admin console?

Guest wrote Don;t Lose Focus

on Thu, Sep 11 2008 3:19 AM

Open your eyes.

It is 4.5 for windows 2008 - that's pretty much it (sorry, with WI5). I know they want to work on other exciting things (XenDesktop, XenServer), but they still need their boys pushing and devloping XenApp - if they hedge their bets properly, Citrix could well come unstuck - espeically how many products they have now (aqnd some theur drop!). They are working on the future, but Xenapp is such a core product that is used by companies of all sizes.

I am pro Citrix, just a frustrated Citrix 'Champion' (as the Citrix CEO calls us techies!) of 7 years.

Guest wrote Citrix Delivery Center Live

on Thu, Sep 11 2008 6:03 AM

I thought the event was great! good content and some good informatilon gathered from the presentations and online chat's in the booths

good one citrix!

Carl Webster wrote Re: xeanpp 5

on Thu, Sep 11 2008 9:25 AM

When you go to download Xenapp for Server 2003 CD image, there is this notice:

Note: XenApp 5 For Windows Server 2003 does not include any server side updates. The core server install uses Presentation Server 4.5 with Feature Pack 1 install. All the new functionality can be implemented with the latest clients and components found on the XenApp 5 Component CD. Check the product support website for the latest hotfixes and Hotfix Rollup Packs (HRP).

Guest wrote Re: XenApp 5 for me

on Thu, Sep 11 2008 4:55 PM

You don't need XA5 to use streaming 1.2. You can use it with 4.5.

Shawn Bass wrote I have to disagree on the "XenApp 5: Never Install a Windows Application Again"

on Fri, Sep 12 2008 12:01 AM

That's about the biggest line of crap I've ever heard in my life. They did this at Synergy and they're continue to spread this still. Don't get me wrong, the team behind App Isolation has done an incredibly great job in a relatively short period of time, but "Never install a Windows App again"? Come on.... Com+, Services, IE/Office Interop, Device drivers anyone? Let's have some truth in advertising, eh? BTW, with all due respect to Citrix no one else has cracked these nuts either, but no one else is spreading these lines either.

Michael Keen wrote Re: I have to disagree on the

on Fri, Sep 12 2008 6:58 AM

great feedback as usual my friend. I agree that the title is a stretch for sure. This wasn't a real technical presentation and anyone that spends their days in the 'trenches' saw through the marketing spin. We all know that not every application is a candidate and anyone that thinks that it is, is walking around blind without a cane

Overall I think the presentations were good at laying out the strategy, but we all know that it comes down to execution. I would hope that we all have a ticket for the "clue bus" and can see presentations like most of the presentations the other day for what they were, a way to get the story out. Now it comes down to "what works and what doesn't"

Thanks for chiming in amigo and lending your grain of "reality" salt.

Guest wrote Re: No new XenApp server on 2003

on Sat, Sep 13 2008 6:28 AM

XENAPP 5 is really Presentation Server 4.5 with Feature Pack 2.

Citrix marketing has always been on the deceptive side.

IE. "Never install an application again"

Hamish Podger wrote Technical Issues

on Mon, Sep 15 2008 12:29 AM

Although overall, I was impressed with the Citrix Live presentations, I had a lot of technical glitches which overshadowed an otherwise good experience. The polling questions never appeared on my screen, I never worked out how the "points" system to win prizes worked (this may have been a RTFM issue), and at the conclusion of each session a second browser window would spawn and log me in a second time. I also had the browser crash twice during the day and once I had to kill a rogue iexplore process to stop one of the presentations from running twice with a split second lag in between. The concept was great, but delivery needed some tweaking.

Lastly, I find it a lot more beneficial having a face to face conversation with a techie, rather than typing questions on a screen, but considering that I doubt I'd get travel approval to attend an actual live forum, I shouldn't really complain!

Guest wrote Re: Nothing really new.

on Tue, Sep 16 2008 3:39 PM

you can...but keep in mind once you upgrade a farm to XA 5.0 you will not be able to add anymore XA 4.5 servers to it.

(Note: You must be logged in to post a comment.)

If you log in and nothing happens, delete your cookies from BrianMadden.com and try again. Sorry about that, but we had to make a one-time change to the cookie path when we migrated web servers.

Syndication

Recent Posts

Archives

Citrix Delivery Center Live event post mortem; What did you think?

Comments