Video: Windows on an iPhone
The clip pasted below may excite or horrify you, depending on your point of view.
It’s a demo of a program in development at Citrix Systems (CTXS) that lets you access apps on a computer running Microsoft (MSFT) Windows from an Apple (AAPL) iPhone.
Citrix specializes in products like XenApp and XenDesktop that allow remote access from a variety of computer platforms including Windows, Linux and Mac OS. They even make versions that run on Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones, but by their own admission, “slow, unreliable wireless networks, small screens and awkward user input models” have made them less than satisfying.
But according to product manager Albert Granville:
“The latest generation of hand held devices with their large, high definition screens and the availability of high-speed wireless networks are changing the game in a big way! A hand held device such as an iphone connected to XenApp via a high-speed 3G network yields a remarkably usable experience.” (link)
Here, thanks to Citrix’s U.K.-based Mac development team, is what XenApp looks like when ported to an iPhone (turn your speakers down if you’re not a big Moody Blues fan):
The product is clearly a work in progress. For one thing, the demo doesn’t show any data entry from the iPhone. Granville says his team is working on it and promises to provide updates and an ETA on his Citrix User Experience blog.
Tip of the hat to CNBC’s Jim Goldman and MacDailyNews.
CLARIFICATION: Reader Chris from Fairborn, Ohio, points out that remote access to Windows machines has been available on the iPhone from WinAdmin ($11.99), Remote Desktop ($5.99) and several other programs on the App Store. Reader Bob in Chicago clarifies:
“The Citrix client gives access to hosted applications on XenApp servers — allowing dozens to hundreds of users to access their applications remotely from a single system, with the very efficient Ctrix ICA display protocol.
One approach is for individual users — the other is for a cost-effective shared application delivery infrastructure.”
Thanks to both. Pardon my cluelessness.
Most of people here do not know what Citrix is about. This is a company that does remote access for enterprise environment. In a home environment, you put Word on your own PC and then use VNC or whatever $5.99 software to access it remotely. Done. Note the one two one relationship here. In an enterprise environment, the network administrator “deploy” Word on a farm of 100 computers and then all 10,000 employees can use Word remotely anywhere and it “feels” like using their own computer. The difference:
1. The network administrator “deploy” the app once. Not on every computer of their 10,000 employees, not even on every computer of the 100 servers;
2. The individual employee computers are never directly exposed to outside network. This is important for a corporate environment;
You can get this for free with VNC and the free VNC client
ex ped: Not quite. See Bob’s comment below. I gather Citrix on an iPhone means a lot to people who work in environments that lean heavily on Citrix app sharing, like hospitals.
Wake up, the clip is obviously a fake! These are only images showed and resized with the iPhone, nothing else.
Those other products give remote access to a particular Windows computer.
The Citrix client gives access to hosted applications on XenApp servers — allowing dozens to hundreds of users to access their applications remotely from a single system, with the very efficient Ctrix ICA display protocol.
One approach is for individual users — the other is for a cost-effective shared application delivery infrastructure.
Remote access to a Windows machine has been available on the iPhone since August, 2008, with both WinAdmin and Remote Desktop (among others) from the iTunes App store.
These “news” stories by Goldman and MacDailyNews appear to be nothing more than paid advertisements from Citrix.
ex ped: Noted. I’ll try to find out what Citrix thinks it has that the others don’t.
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Silicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
Citrix has over 200,000 enterprise customers with 100,000,000 users of XenApp. We are not talking about some obscure technology, we are talking about the leader in application delivery infrastructure area.
Citrix’s delivery method DIFFERS from others in that it is centralized and the user experience is great even with slow connections, you can’t do that with VNC or Remote Desktop or infact with any other technology.
Ask your Citrix reseller on these, there are 8000 of them so you will find one in your area!