I just stepped out of Mark Templeton's keynote speech where he talked about five key topics. The fifth was Xen Desktop and was trumped up as the most exciting thing since the launch of WinFrame. The message was Xen Desktop offers a "High Definition user experience" and on demand, new PC, every day. Mark was really excited to demonstrate the Xen Desktop solution and what they call Desktop 2.0.
Mark claimed Xen Desktop was built and designed for 400 million office workers @ Home, @ The Office @ The Virtual Office and Off Shore
They were using what they call a Xen Desktop Appliance. A purpose built device which is not a thin client, Ok sure.
Off to the demo of a Citrix Desktop 2.0 solution designed to support 400 million office workers.
Mark had the demo guy join him on stage, where a Xen Desktop login was being presented from the Xen Desktop Appliance. The demo guy Aaron logged in, an then demonstrated Power Point. After that, it was off to show the "High Definition user experience" and a demo of MultiMedia.
Doh! Not sure what the multimedia was there but all the audience got was a an error and they could not demo the multimedia
The demo guy said maybe if I log out and back in I can get it to work? The demo guy logged out, and tried to log back in. He was then presented with a spinning wheel and no desktop access. I figured it was dynamically building him a new one?
I guess that on-demand desktop is a one time thing?
After a short diversion discussion form Mark, the demo guy tried again as he seemed eager to redeem himself and get it to work, more so than getting off stage and reducing the damage that had already been done. Unfortunately, there was nothing but a spinning wheel again, resulting in a desktop dead on arrival.
Across a silent, stunned audience Mark closed with a statement along the lines of, I guess that is what happens when you fly without a net.
VMware VDI is here today, shipping today and has been deployed to 1000s and 1000s of desktop users across some of the largest enterprises. We are only at the beginning of delivering the next generation desktop delivery and management with a strong ecosystem of VDI alliance partners. Stick with the creators of VDI and do not get caught flying with out a net!!!!
. Especially since they've been to the sales/marketing demos but we've not really seen much in regards to technical demos except for what we download. A good hands-on demo with the geekiest tech possible is what we'd like to see.
in response to: 
Hmm so one dead live demonstration = a dead product? You do write as if you have a chip on your shoulder.
In a day or two, once you have had an opportunity to test the XenDesktop software yourself you will see that it does add value to any vmware vdi solution. Be objective, try it yourself, preferably over a WAN, then come back and give us your considered view.
BTW I dont work for Citrix, but I do work for a reseller that sells VMWare and Citrix and can see benefits in both products.
Steve