If you were at Citrix Synergy, you heard about XenApp/XenDesktop adding support for Linux virtual desktops. As my hero Homer Simpson says “I’m not impressed easily… WOW a blue car!” And that is what we have, a new car color.

We had red cars (Windows applications), green cars (Windows desktops), and now blue cars (Linux desktops). From my perspective, these are simply different applications we can deliver to users (Yes, I also believe a desktop is just another application, which I said back in 2011)

So what’s the big deal then?

It isn’t that XenApp/XenDesktop is able to deliver a Linux desktop as the Linux desktop is just another viable resource. The big deal is that

Nothing changes

• The user simply sees a new resource they can access. The experience is the same. We continue to use whatever Receiver the user has installed, including HTML5. We still provide pass-through authentication for the user so they only have to sign on once.
  
• The admin uses the same tools to deliver the new resource… Studio. The admin creates a new machine catalog and a new delivery group.
  
• The support team uses the same tool to monitor the new resource… Director. The can see in-depth details about the user’s session, including running processes
  

See for yourself

The big deal is that we deliver applications (Windows apps, Windows desktops, Linux desktops) to users with a single platform.

And once you get your Linux virtual desktop running, feel free to relax with a little entertainment with the following to be executed from the terminal:

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

From the virtual mind of Virtual Feller
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