Citrix Previews Remote Windows App (XenApp) for iPhone

[TitoC]

I think people are missing the advantage of this over VNC.

When you move a window (in simplified terms)

VNC: sends a new picture of your desktop across the network (potentially 100's of kilobytes)
Citrix: sends new coordinates (x,y) (a few bytes)

arn

Couldn't have said it better myself. Simple and to the point.

Plus, people also need to realize is that this is a good solution to many enterprises that ALREADY use Citrix (especially XenApp) and would like to see it implemented on their iPhone. No IT department worth their grain of salt would allow an employee to use VNC (not secure at all). Plus, as you state, Citrix XenApp is WAY faster.

 

[VenusianSky]

Citrix is probably the most widely used Windows remote desktop solution by corporations. One of the biggest advantages of ICA over [pre-Windows 2008] RDP and VNC is the published application capability. It allows you to run a remote application in a seamless window, without loading an entire Windows desktop (explorer.exe). ICA is much faster than VNC and many coporations already have Citrix environments established. With Xenapp, published applications are accessed based on group membership.

In other words, their client isn't out to compete with existing iphone remote desktop applications. It is for accessing their own proprietary product that has been available for well over 10 years.

Some of you should do your research before you jump all over something you don't have a clue about. This is actually a big plus for Apple in trying to make a push for the corporate market. There is a Citrix client for Blackberry, but I heard it is crap. Citrix did not even write it themselves.

 

[question fear]

this could be neat, but it depends a great deal on what you are accessing. its great for simple stuff like grabbing info, but I've found that citrix on a smaller screen is PAINFUL. I ran it a few times on my EEE, it was fine for emergency stuff but not my favorite if I had the option of using my macbook instead.

 

[Lara F]

Exactly.

The naysayers here who don't see the difference between this and VNC or RDC obviously don't work where Citrix access is already in place. At my hospital there are some proprietary applications available via Citrix server that are not only Windows-only, but specific to my institution and require appropriate security (ie the electronic medical record). And there is no chance that an iPhone-native version of these programs will be created.

I'm only a resident but my outpatient clinic uses the electronic medical record via Citrix - and you can also access radiology (PACS/Medview), ER (HMed) etc. I don't personally have any need for it on my iPhone atm but can definitely see how it'd be useful. Good news.

 

[sfh]

i think it would be to slow on 3g or even wifi. i would stick with vnc, because im not worried about security.

it would be faster with less network traffic. And YES security is an issue.
also this would allow many people to log into the company applications.

THIS IS HUGE for apple and citrix ... the whole UC system and all their hospitals use citrix. Up till this they have not been allowing people to use the iphone within their networks. I'm betting apple could even be funding their dev team for this.

 

[aristotle]

The naysayers here who don't see the difference between this and VNC or RDC obviously don't work where Citrix access is already in place. At my hospital there are some proprietary applications available via Citrix server that are not only Windows-only, but specific to my institution and require appropriate security (ie the electronic medical record). And there is no chance that an iPhone-native version of these programs will be created.

Yes, I can currently log onto my office computer via iPhone RDC and run these programs via my office desktop, but that requires my desktop to be on and available, the iPhone to hook up via VPN, and alot of overhead remote controlling, scrolling, and rendering an entire Windows machine in action over the network. Citrix access allows you to run just a single isolated app, has much less graphical overhead, is secure on login without using VPN, and I expect the iPhone version will have specific settings to optimize for screen size, bit depth etc just like like the desktop version. The video is admittedly kind of "gee-whiz-look-what-we-can-do," probably logged in to a Citrix-based RDC session, which is why in this case it looks just like another RDC client. In reality using Citrix on the desktop is nearly like using Parallels in confluence mode...Windows apps (via Citrix server) in their own windows interleaved with Mac apps. Now the iPhone will be able to create this same illusion.

Those who don't already access their corporate network apps via Citrix will have no use for this (and no way to use it). Those like myself who use Citrix access regularly, understand the value, and can't wait for this to become available!

Thank you. The majority of users on here are not aware that VNC is a completely different technology to Citrix. When you log into a citrix server, you basically receive something analogous to a temporary virtual machine session where the applications run on the server isolated from other sessions while VNC is for interacting with a workstation through a remote viewer.

Also, the video did show clicking on a visio document and visio opening IIRC so even that early version does have input capability.

 

[Masquerade]

err this is news? mochasoft already have a remote windows app in appstore!

 

[Jeezeypeeps]

err this is news? mochasoft already have a remote windows app in appstore!

Didn't you bother reading any of the posts before joining in?

 

[paperstar]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

I agree with Art at least with VNC you can edit spread sheets

 

[VenusianSky]

The only thing common between ICA/RDP and VNC is that they provide remote Windows computing. Other than that, the technologies are very different. ICA and RDP use Microsoft's terminal services, which allows for multiple remote sessions. This means multiple users can log onto the same server and have their own isolated sessions. VNC simply provides an interactive image of the real desktop. It is not terminal services. This is the same as products such as PC Anywhere and Dameware. Multiple people can only share the actual desktop session like it is if you were physically on the computer.

As for application usage, many companies deliver applications solely through Citrix. And they can perform pretty close to the same as if the application was installed locally. I have worked with spreadsheets many times through Citrix. However, this was the Citrix client for a desktop (it. Windows, OS X, Linux, etc.), not a phone/PDA. Editing a spreadhseet on a phone would probably not be convenient period, regardless of it being remote or local. I have used Pocket Excel on a PDA, and it isn't exactly efficient to me.

 

[helpinghand]

To be clear

Yes you will be able to create documents with your applications, but the form factor is more to approve and review documents.

Think about custom apps and the ability to run those remote. Custom medical apps for example.

 

[Pared]

i think it would be to slow on 3g or even wifi. i would stick with vnc, because im not worried about security.

...which is why it would be geared for the corporate environment. And they are.

1+1=...

 

[Jeezeypeeps]

Not worried about security?

i think it would be to slow on 3g or even wifi. i would stick with vnc, because im not worried about security.

That's good to hear; if you pass me your banking details I'll look after them for you.

Why do you 'think' it will be too slow? ICA is optimized for low bandwidth connections (I've often used it on a GSM phone connection).

 

[pilotError]

Very Cool.

I was pretty happy when Citrix came out with the Mac OS X client.

This would be great in a pinch when you get those late night support calls and your somewhere without a computer.

Certainly not something you would use on a regular basis though.

 

[kdarling]

That video is incredible! It's literally your P.C. desktop displayed on your iPHONE !!! This is going to revolutionize mobile computing!!! I'll bet no one ever saw this coming.

Just so you know:

This is not something the casual person would (or could) use. You need a Citrix server, for one thing. And Citrix licenses can be pretty expensive... up to hundreds of dollars per user.

The point of this news is that those with Citrix servers at work can now use their iPhone to access apps, when their desktop / laptop isn't available. Which is a Good Thing if you're in that situation.

Looks like Apple just one-upped Bill Gates. So much for needing Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile and Symbian (and even RIM, I think) already have Citrix mobile clients.

 

[QWK SVT]

I think this is great news! The company I work for (large Canadian FI) does not allow access to email from non-corporate issued devices (e.g. my personal iPhone), but does have citrix access. I use citrix all the time, on my home PC. If the iPhone app works as intended, I would PERSONALLY pay for the app, just to increase my own productivity...

I wonder how/if they'd work in the Citrix C&P functionalilty, that doesn't current exist in the iPhone? It would be easy enough to just use the Edit menu wihin each application, but the highlighting text would still be an issue

 

[collusionxxi]

The purpose of this software is Not to create an entire excel spreadsheet. Lol.
The purpose of this software is so that you have ACCESS to view the content that is on your desktopPC or Mac even when you are not physically at your desktop. It allows you to be anywhere in the world and be able to pull your iPhone out of your pocket and be able to have ACCESS to what is on your desktop PC or Mac. "You know what, I have that data on my desktop at my office. Just a second. Let me look it up. It says ...."

I realize that that's obviously what it's intended for, I was just making a point. Because you know people will try it.

 

[adamma]

Actually, the app will be able to be scaled to just about any resolution you want, even smaller than the devices native resolution. Citrix already has a way to detect what type of device is connecting, and what the resolution of that device is to scale the app presentation to fit that resolution. You can even set a per app, per device resolution if you want. They currently have this for Windows Mobile and Symbian device, and how to do this in the forums. Thus no panning and scaling is required,if that's the best fit for the particular app being accessed.

This is "ok", but nothing to get very excited by. VNC on the iPhone is, in many ways, a much more useful tool for people.

I can VNC into *any* type of server, whether it's another Mac, a Linux or BSD based server, or yes, even a Windows box. Sure, Citrix will be faster, with their proprietary technologies for sending the window data. But have you priced out the cost of licensing for Citrix servers that can host something like this?

This has *nothing* to do with Windows Mobile, which is a way to physically run a scaled down version of Windows on your hand-held device. This is just a way to relatively quickly gain remote access to applications being hosted from an expensive Windows server running expensive Citrix software on the top of it. Mind you, the apps will NOT be scaled to the size of your iPhone's screens, so tons of scrolling around and pinching is going to be required. Ugh....

 

[adamma]

Agreed, but imagine a sales person that just wants to look up a price in a spread sheet that is stored in the data center on a file share. So you can take a minutes to boot up you laptop, find a hotspot or start up your aircard and then get access to the spreadsheet about 7 minutes later, assuming this person had their laptop with them to begin with, being we all know that we always have our laptop with us when we get a call.

Or simply pulling our your mobile phone, connecting into the data center in 1 minute, getting the price listing you want and logging off. All in less that about 1/5th the time it usually would take, again, assuming you even had your laptop with you.

This use case is all about data consumption, and not producing a lot of data.

I can't imagine a more painful torture than trying to create an excel spreadsheet on an iphone.

 

[adamma]

Agree with you, but it's actually more about accessing data that is in the corporate data center (files from file shares, data stored in corporate databases (ERM, CRM etc....). The Citrix XenApp cleints connects to larger scalable servers in the data center, not to end user PC. Citrix has GoToMyPC for that. As a lot of people have stated in this forum, Citrix XenApp is a data center solution the focuses on secure, fast, compliance related access to any Windows application that the data center is centrally managing in the data center.

The purpose of this software is Not to create an entire excel spreadsheet. Lol.
The purpose of this software is so that you have ACCESS to view the content that is on your desktopPC or Mac even when you are not physically at your desktop. It allows you to be anywhere in the world and be able to pull your iPhone out of your pocket and be able to have ACCESS to what is on your desktop PC or Mac. "You know what, I have that data on my desktop at my office. Just a second. Let me look it up. It says ...."

 

[GRuizMD]

Useful only for people that deal with Citrix!

To all the people that think that a regular person would have use for this and to those who think VNC is better:

Citrix technology can not be compared to VNC, this technology is for someone like me who works in a Hospital and could see a patient's medical record or his/her Xray film from a mobile platform.

The hospital RUNS citrix ALREADY, and I log at home and do this from my mac, I can even run a Full featured Session of MS ACCESS Database that is securely stored on my drive (inside the Hospital Network) with my patients info through an Apple computer....

For people like me that work with Data that is available already on a Citrix environment, this is great news... For the regular user, this is completely useless.

Not trying to be rude... So for incoming readers, all those comments that mention VNC as a better option and for those that say: Cool now I will be able to run my desktop with this thing, this does not apply to them, so their opinion is worthless in this thread.

 

[ktemkin]

What's taking them so long???

I can remember when the iPhone first came out, there being rumors and discussions about an eventual Citrix client for the iPhone. From those discussions, it sounded like the Citrix client would be one of the early iPhone applications.

We waited and waited and waited.

Then they did the demo.

And I haven't heard a word since.

Has anyone else heard anything more about the future of this product?