Podcasts

Brian & Gabe LIVE: Listen to the recording of today's live internet radio show, Episode 1.

Gabe & I have always wanted to do some kind of live internet show. Our first show was today, at 8am PST / 11am EST, 4pm GMT.
Microsoft and Citrix...Is there a competition brewing?

Brian and I have been talking, most recently on Brian Madden TV, about how Microsoft and Citrix have become competitors since each has a VDI solution. With their product lines and release dates fresh in my mind, I thought I'd take a look and see if there is anything to this growing sentiment that Microsoft and Citrix are becoming "frenemies."

What’s the best configuration for WAN simulation of remoting protocols?

Now that Gabe and I are back from the holidays, we're getting ready to spend some quality time with several of the recently-released VDI products (both for our "VDI Week" and for our general knowledge and articles.) One of the first things I want to test is VMware's software implementation of PC-over-IP that's built-in to View 4.
RemoteApp for Hyper-V - Microsoft's single-user app solution

In reality, RemoteApp for Hyper-V is more than just a workaround for underpowered Windows 7 endpoints that can't run multiple OS's.
Help us plan our week-long five-product head-to-head VDI shoot-out!

A few months ago on Brian Madden TV, Gabe and I briefly mentioned that we were putting together a plan for something like a VDI version of "Shark Week."
Microsoft's Desktop Virtualization product line as of 2009

Last up in our rundown of the Big 5's desktop virtualization product lines is Microsoft. This is probably the most ambiguous vendor, because so many of their products intertwine to make up their solution.
BriForum 2010 will be June 15-17 in Chicago; early-bird reg now open

Who can believe it's already time to start planning our eighth BriForum conference which will take place June 15-17, 2010, at the Hilton Chicago.
Microsoft hates Type 1 client hypervisors. (A guest post by AppDetective)

I'm fully expecting both Citrix and VMWare to make a big deal about XenClient when it's released shortly and CVP when it get's closer to a release date. Virtual Computer is already out there with a client hypervisor, as is Neocleus.
Citrix releases Tech Preview for XenApp codenamed “Parra” (XenApp 6?)

Yesterday Citrix released the beta (or "Tech Preview" in their words) for the next version of XenApp which has been known by the codename "Parra." It's not known how this will be branded, but with the changes we're seeing it's quite possible that you might be looking at XenApp 6.
VMware's Desktop Virtualization product line as of 2009

Today's vendor in our rundown of the Big 5's product lines is VMware. Previously I've written about Citrix, Symantec, and Quest, which leaves just Microsoft after today.
What desktop virtualization skills should we brush-up on during the holidays?

When I was in Chicago last week for a Desktop Virtualization seminar, I was talking to some attendees about their plans for the next few weeks.
Red Hat makes the Qumranet SPICE protocol open source. A free alternative to ICA/PCoIP?

Yesterday Red Hat used what was arguably the worst-titled press release ever to announce that they are open sourcing their SPICE remote display protocol.
What is MinWin, and what (if anything) does it mean to us?

With the release of Windows 7 and and Server 2008 R2, MinWin has received a bit more press, and with that comes some intrigue from people like us who always want to find a way to do things better (or at least differently).
How to lie with cost models

To desire to save money is a one of the big reasons people choose to implement desktop virtualization. In these cases, companies typically try to produce some kind of cost model or analysis which quantifies the amount of money they can save with the new solution.
Do SBC and client VMs mean we finally can throw away crazy host-scanning VPN solutions?

Last week, RBC Capital Markets equity research group released a report about Check Point Software discussing an potential upcoming product called "Abra." Abra would be sold in the form of a USB stick that end users plug into personal / non-corporate laptops used to access their corporate environments.
Evidence VMware doesn’t care: They haven't posted a single blog entry since View 4 announced!?

VMware employee Warren Ponder contacted me to point out that he's written a few blog posts since View 4 was announced.
In a virtual desktop world, do we need to pay $30 a seat for antivirus and client security?

I got an email from a reader last week asking a simple question: "With all this desktop virtualization, do you think we still need to keep paying $30 a seat for client security suites (antivirus, etc.)?" This is a great question which we'll explore today.
Desktop virtualization & the Mac OS. Where are we today?

One of the questions that I'm most often asked is "Can you use a Mac for desktop virtualization?" The answer to that is actually kind of complex, mainly because the term "desktop virtualization" can mean so many different things.
A technical explanation of why the whole “layering” / shared image thing is so difficult

Yesterday's main article on BrianMadden.com was about the disk images used for today's VDI deployments.
Is today's VDI really only about non-shared, personal images?

Today's topic is something that BrianMadden.com user "AppDetective" has been talking about in almost every one of the 243 comments he's posted.
Reflections on our work life on the one year anniversary of being acquired by TechTarget

On November 20, 2008, Gabe and I wrote that The Brian Madden Company had been acquired by TechTarget. It's hard to believe it's been a year already, although it's cool that I finally know most of my coworkers' names.
Quest's desktop virtualization product line as of 2009

Next up in our series of product lines from the Big 5 (Citrix, Symantec, Quest, VMware, and Microsoft, in no particular order) is Quest Software's Desktop Virtualization Group.
If imitation is flattery, Microsoft MultiPoint will make NComputing blush

Last week Microsoft announced something called Windows MultiPoint Server 2010, a technology for classrooms that lets up to ten students use individual terminals to share the resources of one single host computer.
Is VDI finally cheaper than traditional PCs for CapEx?

One of the promises of VDI has always been that it's "cheaper" than traditional PCs.