Today VMware announced the availability of ThinApp 4.7. The new version is Horizon AppManager enabled what means that you can use the packages with VMware’s cloud-based deployment and management platform. VMware published a great article ybou the integration of ThinApp in Horizon AppManager at the ThinApp Blog. Follow this link: http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2011/11/vmware-thinapp-47-whats-new.html

What elese is new in ThinApp?

There are a few resolved issues in the version 4.7:

• An error message is displayed in the console when you use non-ASCII characters in application installer subdirectory names. However, the package is built successfully.
• After appsyncing Firefox 3.0 or Firefox 3.6.3, the Mozilla Firefox.ex$ file remains in the application folder on Windows XP 64 bit machines.
• ThinApp Packages are not built if Build.bat is launched from a directory other that its current directory.
• An error is displayed if you insert a Word object into Powerpoint 2007 on Vista and Windows 7 SP1.
• Quicktime throws a shell32.dll error and crashes on a Windows XP SP3 32-bit machine.
• A second session of virtual IE6 crashes when you use a virtual Java plug-in.
• Capture of IE8 and Silverlight crashes IE8 when you access Silverlight content.
• Thinapped Firefox and Java cause Web browsers to freeze on launch and require a restart of Java to proceed.

You can find the release notes here: http://www.vmware.com/support/thinapp4/doc/releasenotes_thinapp47.html

At this years VMworld in Las Vegas, VMware introduced a new product called AppBlast. This new technology enables you to use remote applications of any type and platform and deliver them to any HTML5 browser or device. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS. You don’t need to install any client, all is pure HTML5. In the demo at VMworld Scott Davis showed a demo on his MacBook, running AppBlast in Goolge Chrome.

In the screenshot you can see the Lauch Portal which gives you access to all the published Windows applications.

A really interesting technology, but what does this give you for the future?

From my view this is a game changing technology! Today if you want to run Windows applications on an iPad or Mac, you always need to install some client and use a remoting technology such as Terminal Services, XenApp or VDI to access the applications but with AppBlast there is no need for a client. This fits exactly in the VMware End User Computing vision, Brian Gammage gave to the audience at VMworld. Companies can centralize their desktop workloads with desktop- and application virtualization and bring it together with web based and SaaS applications via VMware’s Horizon AppManager. But instead of installing a View Client for example and delivering a full Windows desktop, you can just deliver one application to the user.

Think about a complete solution with Zimbra as collaboration solution, AppBlast, Horizon AppManager, Project Octopus, View and ThinApp! This is the user workspace of the future!

Check the video linked below to get a deeper insight of the new technology!

Link: VMworldTV

There have been some changes for the Horizon AppManager in July and the EUC team already blogged about it on their corporate blog. This month the changes are targeted on the mobile experience and custom branding options.

Here are some of the key improvement:

• Added scroll gesture support for the iPad. Allows you to browse applications just by swiping your iPad left or right.
• iPad specific application view
• Custom branding includes your company logo and name, UI color options, customized links for help and privacy pages and the ability to add customer header and footer logos.

Please check the EUC team blog for more detailed information.

Link: VMware EUC Blog

At VMworld 2010 in San Francisco, VMware announced a new project they are working on called project Horizon. This looks like the future of End User Computing. A user can logon to a web interface and can access applications granted to him. It doesn’t matter which and device he’s using, Windows, Linux or Mac. Brian Madden did a video with Noah Wasmer who’s the Product Manager for the new project at VMware. Check this brilliant interview on www.brianmadden.com.

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Tablet PC’s are not new to me – no I’m a proud IBM Thinkpad x61T user for over 3 years. When I’ve bought the tablet my objective was to write notes with the digitizer and do interactive presentations i.e. whiteboardings, directly on a blank Powerpoint presentation. People who attended my presentations were amazed about this presentation style because it was unique to them. I’ve seen Tablet PC’s really rarely in the past but I guess that will change soon. Apple lately started to roust the market when they announced the iPad, a tablet which can be used just with your fingers without any need for a digitizer. Well there is a onscreen keyboard but no digitizer, the reason for me to buy a Tablet PC years ago. It seems that vendors must have another objective as mine. Even the processing power in an iPad is not comparable to a standard PC but to be honest it doesn’t need to be because it’s designed to consume web services – no, to be clear here: applications hosted in the cloud! There are other hardware vendors who want to get a piece of the big cake! Last week, the CIO magazine published an article with the headline: Rumor: Cisco Wants to Come to the Tablet Party. A tipster hinted that Cisco is working on it’s own tablet device which is based on Google’s Android operating system. It should include a front facing camera, dual noise-cancelling microphones and VPN access. Cool ha? That sounds really interesting! What could you do with this device? Video conferencing? Having access to your virtual desktop? If this rumour comes truth I’m really looking forward to look deeper into it. It seems that Apple just started to revolutionize the tablet market, the iPad is great marketing for every tablet vendor and also for Software-as-a-Service.