The Terminal Server team has been really busy over at Microsoft and the fruits of their labor can really be seen in the latest release of Longhorn Beta 3. Potential and existing VDI customers are always telling me they really want a simple, clean, low cost and easy to manage way of delivering, existing and candidate applications compatible with Terminal Services to their desktops.

One of the features I have been waiting to see from 2008 server and the Terminal Services team is RemoteApp. RemoteApp is a new feature that introduces usability concepts that have been around for a while, but have really started to take off even more, as the desktop environment continues to change.

So what is the concept? A RemoteApp application accessed from a Terminal Server displays as if it was another application loaded on the user’s local desktop. This concept is nothing new really. On the Terminal Services front there have always been seamless windows from Citrix. Sun’s SGD product had the concept of the integrated client that took the seamless windows concept a step further by integrating the applications into the start menu and desktop.

On the virtualization front, its similar to the Unity feature of the VMware Fusion product for MAC. In order to leverage RemoteApp with VDI desktops, XP desktops will need the RDP 6.0 client installed. Vista desktops will have this by default. Getting started is simple. Any application loaded on the Terminal Server can be selected as one available, as a RemoteApp using the TS RemoteApp Manager. Once you have selected the applications that will be available, you have the option
of creating an .rdp file or .msi package. These contain the connection and configuration information of the application and can be distributed to VDI desktops using file shares or software distribution methods.



As a quick test, I loaded Dreamweaver 8, created an .msi package and published it via Software Distribution using Active Directory. Once installed, an application icon shows up in the Start Menu under Programs/Remote Programs. An icon can also be created on the users desktop if desired.

When a RemoteApp is started, a splash screen will appear indicating that an application is being started. This really is the only indication to the end user that the application is remote. An important note is if more than one RemoteApp is run simultaneously they share the same Terminal Server session.

Once the application is running you can see, not only does it run as a seamless window, but it also carries the theming from 2008.



RemoteApp should be exciting to VDI administrators because of how cleanly it’s implemented. When available, it should prove to provide a simple and clean way of
providing centrally hosted applications to VDI desktop users.