Brian Madden

NVIDIA announces new virtualizeable GPU to power high graphics VDI

Brian Madden — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Last November I wrote an article about NVIDIA's "Monterey" project where they were researching how they could use GPUs to enhance the VDI remoting experience. They talked about multiple goals, including (1) using GPUs to do super fast, high quality, hardware...(read more)

Is Citrix going to compete with Good Technology now?

Brian Madden — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:31:42 GMT

Jack Madden has an interesting post on ConsumerizeIT.com where he looks at all the announcements from Citrix Synergy last week and wonders whether Citrix will end up competing with companies like Good Technology? (If they do, Gabe joked that the ad tagline...(read more)

Citrix Synergy 2012 opening keynote live blog, today at 10:30 PST / 1:30 EST

Brian Madden — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:42:00 GMT

12:35 Okay, keynote is over. Now we're heading over to the studio for a special edition of Brian & Gabe LIVE (our live internet radio show). We're going on at 1pm PST / 4pm EST today (25min from now) to discuss what we learned in the keynote. Join...(read more)

I was wrong about how VMware View 5.1's new "Storage Accelerator" works. It's way cooler than I thought!

Brian Madden — Mon, 07 May 2012 07:24:00 GMT

Last week VMware announced View 5.1. One of the major new features is this thing called "View Storage Accelerator," or "VSA." In my article about View 5.1 , I wrote that I wasn't particularly excited about VSA. It turns out I didn't fully understand how...(read more)

VMware announced View 5.1, plans to deliver seamless apps via PCoIP and full desktops via HTML5

Brian Madden — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:00:00 GMT

[UPDATED MAY 4] Corrected info about how the View Storage Accelerator Works Today VMware released the details of the next version of View, called version 5.1. (They also announced that Horizon App Manager is available for on-premises deployments and that...(read more)

The REAL reason Microsoft Windows RT devices won't be able to join AD domains. (Hint: AD is not about systems management anymore!)

Brian Madden — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:05:00 GMT

By now you've probably heard that the final name of the version of Windows 8 that will run on ARM-based systems will be called "Windows RT." (I have no idea what the "RT" stands for or why there's no "8" in the name like the x86 versions.) Also you've...(read more)

Google Drive represents the future. Unfortunately that future is really far away.

Brian Madden — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:14:00 GMT

You probably heard that Google entered the cloud-based file sync race yesterday by releasing Google Drive . At first glance, Google Drive seems to be a head-on competitor to services like Dropbox or Box, but after reading the announcement it looks like...(read more)

Microsoft announces virtual desktop licensing changes for Windows 8. Guess what? They're still screwing us!

Brian Madden — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:19:00 GMT

From the I-swear-I'm-not-making-this-up department, yesterday Microsoft announced a new license for Windows 8 which will be known as the "Companion Device License" (CDL). This is a license for users who want to access their Windows desktops (either locally...(read more)

Microsoft releases new FAQ doc to clarify VDI, VDA, and RDS licensing

Brian Madden — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:29:00 GMT

Yesterday Nathan Coutinho blogged that Microsoft has released a new FAQ document that spells out different virtual desktop and RDS licensing scenarios in very plain and simple language. (You might remember Nathan from one of his BriForum sessions about...(read more)

InstallFree Nexus: open Dropbox files via real windows apps in a browser. No desktop, no setup, very cool!

Brian Madden — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:40:00 GMT

I've been playing with the beta version of InstallFree's Nexus product recently, and it's awesome. (Check it out nexus.installfree.com .) If you use Dropbox, click "sign in with Dropbox" and you're redirected to Dropbox's site to grant access to InstallFree...(read more)

OnLive appears to cave to Microsoft's demands, changes DaaS offering to Server 2008 instead of Windows 7

Brian Madden — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:24:00 GMT

By now you're all familiar with the story of OnLive's Desktop as a Service (DaaS) offering where they appear to flagrantly break Microsoft's Windows 7 licensing model. (If you're not caught up, check out this and this .) Over the weekend, the OnLive enthusiasts...(read more)

Dell plans to acquire Wyse. (It's about time!)

Brian Madden — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:39:00 GMT

Dell announced today that they're planning to Acquire Wyse . (This is not an April fool's joke.) This is a deal that totally makes sense and something that we've been talking about / wanting to see for years. HP bought thin client maker Neoware back in...(read more)

How you can "buy" back your users' admin rights for $399

Brian Madden — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:56:21 GMT

One of the goals of many desktop admins is to get control of users' Windows desktops. Doing so means that your desktop environment will be cheaper, easier to manage, and more secure. (And this applies regardless of whether you have physical or virtual...(read more)

Why VDI? (5 Reasons people really use VDI)

Brian Madden — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:58:00 GMT

I've recently posted a few negative articles about VDI. (Well, I don't think they're negative, but I've definitely been accused of being a VDI hater.) I wrote that VDI is not about saving money and VDI is not about making desktops easier to manage . So...(read more)

VDI is NOT about making desktops easier to manage

Brian Madden — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:08:00 GMT

Last October, I wrote an article " Desktop Virtualization is NOT about cost savings or saving money ." In it I argued that desktop virtualization was really about providing new and awesome capabilities for users, but that doing so would cost more than...(read more)