VMware Horizon Community
nappyrat
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

View client for chromebook

Is there a timeline for a view client with pcoip support for the chromebook (chromeos)?  I know there is the HTML5 one from Ericom but it does not support pcoip and has separate licensing fees whereas I would assume vmware's client would be free like it is for all other platforms.  There are articles out there saying vmware and citrix are both bringing their software to the chromebook but they're scarce on any details.

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kslish
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I second this question.  The new $249 Chromebook would make a killer thin client laptop for my organization's VMware View users.

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rmayes
Contributor
Contributor

Also interested in this for the possibility of "one to one" Chromebooks in an education environment.

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Grid1010
Contributor
Contributor

The new chromebooks are flying off the shelves with 3 week backlogs.  These are perfect for business environments.  Citrix has a solution, how come VMware view is not ported as an app I can download in chromestore?  Would be proselytizing to my IT department today if there was a solution.  Any ETA?

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AdamG53
Contributor
Contributor

If you're curious about Chromebooks and VMware View in an education environment, you can see this case study about Richland School District 2 in South Carolina that's using Ericom's HTML5 RDP client (AccessNow for VMware View) to access View desktops from Chromebooks:
http://www.ericom.com/Richland

Google recently hosted an Education on Air Hangout where the Richland IT people discussed their Chromebook/VMware View/AccessNow deployment.  You can find the recording on YouTube.

As nappyrat wrote above, it's true that AccessNow does not work over PCoIP.  However, you can set the Chromebook users to connect to View using RDP.

Please note that I work for Ericom

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LeMoyne
Contributor
Contributor

We now have Chromebooks in for testing and need a native View client.  Can we get a response from VMware, please?   We're happy to beta test.  It is our plan to make Chromebooks integral to our BYOD policy for students.

Thanks!

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HendersonD
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Even better would be a purpose built laptop/netbook, solid state drive, and the Teradici Tera 2 chip built in. In essence a zero client in a laptop form factor. This would easily beat the performance of the Chromebook even with a native View client, especially on anything video related. With a solid state drive the battery time should be excellent. I am hoping that HP, Dell, Lenovo, or some other manufacturer makes such a device in the $300 range. The only downside is it could not be used off campus unless there is some easy way for whomever has it to join a wireless network.

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LeMoyne
Contributor
Contributor

The reason the Chromebook is ideal for us, is that we are a Google Apps campus, so all students and soon fac/staff will primarly use Google Docs/Drive, Gmail and most all of our learning systems are already web enabled.  Having access to View Desktops would give them use of class/course specific specialty Windows software.  Best of both worlds for us and central control over the devices.

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nappyrat
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

has anybody tried the horizon view web access from chromeos?

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estebano
Contributor
Contributor

Bad news.

I recently returned from VMware PEX (partner exchange) and asked this exact same questions to multiple senior members of the View and Horizon teams.

The answer was always the same, a worried look and the dodging "well the new horizon view allows html 5 connections".  They never said they were working on a native chrome client or if it was on the roadmap and consistently dodged the question when asked exactly that.

now it IS possible that they were not at liberty to reveal it if there is some big project in the works (like the above idea for a tera 2 based laptop), but not even a wily smirk and a wink saying "wait and see" which is usually what you'd expect at a closed forum like PEX.

Im of the same opinion as the rest of you, with the education ecosystem devouring chromebooks and the inevitable crawl forward of web based notebooks, I cannot fathom why vmware has not put a small amount of effort to create a Chrome OS native client a la citrix receiver.

the html 5 access of view IS much faster (experts at vmware claim a minimum of 50% improvement) over Ericom's solution, but it is STILL RDP, not pcoip.  also you do not get the rich connection that pcoip or even RDP offers (audio, improved video, usb redirection, etc.)

Perhaps the html 5 access will improve with subsequent versions, but a native client is really necessary.

also, with new Horizon workspace, it is a perfect blend to add to a Chrome OS notebook.  a web portal for enterprise applications (SaaS, Web Apps, Thinapps, citrix apps, and desktops).

I really feel that VMware is missing the boat on this one, big time.  Hopefully, if enough people keep pushing this, it may happen.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

html 5 access [...] is STILL RDP, not pcoip.  also you do not get the rich connection that pcoip or even RDP offers (audio, improved video, usb redirection, etc.)

Hi estebano,

You're right in that PCoIP still offers lots of things not in the first HTML access release.

I want to clarify a technical point, though.  Unlike Ericom's solution, View's HTML Access is not based on RDP.  It is similar to PCoIP in that it runs from a service running inside the remoted desktop.  This means that, from an architectural standpoint, HTML access is not limited to what RDP provides.

- Chris

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erei314
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

VMWare enabled HTML access in their Horizan release. Here's a link that demonstrates Horizon View on a Chromebook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtwBLNVBL4I

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