I recently tried the newly released XenApp Plug-in for Mac, previously known as Mac ICA client.

Overall I had a good experience with it. It's simpler to use and feels more like native applications than earlier version.

Here are a few things I learned that you may find useful:

• This XenApp Plug-in contains a new component called Dazzle. Dazzle is an application that allows you to "install" your favorite published applications so that you can launch them easily later just like native applications.

• Dazzle doesn't however launch published applications.

• Launching from Web Interface from browser is still supported.

• Dazzle relies on XenApp Services (previously known as PNAgent service). Please make sure you provide PNAgent URL not Web Interface URL when asked about server address.

• Once you click the add button next to a published application in Dazzle, an application shortcut is placed in /Application/Dazzle folder. Then you can treat the application just like any other locally installed applications. You can launch it from that folder or drag it to the dock for example. At first I was not sure what happened when I clicked the add button.

My wish:

The published applications, once "installed", behave very much like native applications. One thing that is missing still though is the ability to drag a file from a finder window to a published application. For example, I would love to attach a local file to published Outlook by dragging the file and drop it into the outlook window.

There are certain behaviors of Dazzle that I wish were different. But once I learn how to use it properly, it is not a problem for me since I don't have a need to use Dazzle often. It's more like an installer for me. What's most important to me is the experience of actually using my favorite published applications.

Overall, I am happy with the improvements. Keep up the good work Mac team!

You can find another review by Orestes with pictures here.

Try the new the new Plug-in (client) now.

You can download it from here

I'd love to hear your comments and your experience. I will be happy to relay the feedbacks to the team who developed this release. If you are seeking help with an issue, I'd recommend posting it to this forum and leave a link to it in your comment so that I and others can better help you.

Ray (Ruiguo) Yang
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A couple months ago, I posted about a VMware-sponsored report that compared View 3 to an older version of XenDesktop. I've gotten a lot of good feedback on that response, and a lot of agreement that sponsored third-party analysis needs to be absorbed with a cautious eye. I don't think it at all means  that sponsored work isn't valuable or useful, but it needs to have a sound, transparent methodology and provide enough data and detailed context that it actually ends up being useful to the audience.

Regardless, any paid-for review is going to be viewed with skepticism, right? So that's why I'm so excited about this completely independent, non-sponsored pair of reviews that were conducted by Infoworld:

• "VMware View is good news, bad news: VMware's VDI solution makes virtual desktops real, but not particularly easy to manage" This is a brand new review of VMware View, with a final score of 7.5.
• "Citrix hits the VDI high notes: Citrix XenDesktop 2.0 leverages streaming applications, server virtualization, and swift tools for a scalable and manageable virtual desktop infrastructure solution" This review is a little older, from September 2008, based on our first "real" release of XenDesktop, and we scored an 8.3 way back then. Since then, we've added many new features and capabilities for both user experience and manageability.

We were really pleased with the XenDesktop review when it first came out, but we lacked the context of how it compared to an in-depth review of VMware's product. Now that the review of View is out, I personally think the score is even more impressive.

So if you're skeptical about paid reviews, have a look at the two independent reviews above! Then come back to www.citrix.com/xendesktop and learn more about the product and our latest enhancements.

Paul Venezia, senior contributing editor of the InfoWorld Test Center, recently posted a review of Citrix XenDesktop. Paul writes "The future is bright for VDI and, thus, for XenDesktop". He goes on to say "Citrix has married VDI to its existing stable of application and desktop delivery mechanisms, and it continues to leverage the stellar ICA protocol to assist in speed, user experience, and manageability" (emphasis mine).

The review evaluates Citrix XenDesktop on five categories - Management, Performance, Scalability, Setup and Value. Overall, Paul rates XenDesktop solution as "Very Good".

Read Paul's full review here.

Frank Anderson on the XenDesktop team has created a few screencasts covering the features of XenDesktop. You can watch his short screencast covering the provisioning and lifecycle management features of XenDesktop here. Frank's screencast on user experience is available here

Download the free XenDesktop Express Edition here