Re: Thin client support for TS Gateway
What we are seeing here is the good old chicken and egg problem. Right now
I'm on a virtualization roadshow through Germany, explaining IT pros all
aspects of virtualization - TS, App-V, Hyper-V, Desktop-V, Profile-V,
Citrix, VMware, Provision Networks etc. The German market always was and
still is very good for terminal servers. But as of today almost none of the
TS customers migrated to Windows Server 2008, yet. They're still happy with
their combination of Windows Server 2003 TS and Citrix MetaFrame/XenApp,
which constitutes 95% or more of the current environments. These customers
are fine with thin clients only supporting RDP 5.2. TS customers tend to be
very conservative in Europe, they invested too much money into their
existing TS/Citrix environments to just dump them and replace them by
something new.
However, most of the same customers start considering migrating to Windows
Server 2008 in the future, well, as soon as they know if all their apps can
be installed on this new platform and as soon as App-V 4.5 is finally
released for terminal servers and after they figured out how much it's gonna
cost them. And more and more they start looking at alternatives to expensive
Citrix licenses - which does not mean that they all WILL get rid of Citrix
licenses in the near future but their investigation certainly creates some
POC activities. This all takes time! All I want to say is that the real TS
2008 migration business may start during the next 12 months, most of the
projects with the goal to reduce costs. As soon as customers really start
migrating to the new TS platform, they will also demand thin clients to
support RDP 6.1. I get the impression that thin client vendors are only
waiting for the right moment in time until they release their new versions
of RDC. Why provide functionality customers can't appreciate today. The
right timing is key. And in April Microsoft published the RDP protocol
specs, now anybody can develop a fully compatible RDP client, independent if
it runs on XPe, WinCE, Linux...
Just my two cents...
--
Benny Tritsch
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Services
--
"HiltonT" <HiltonT@discussions.microsoft.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:E5E8BAD5-2301-4309-A03C-A51E6876D367@microsoft.com...
> Hi Guys,
>
> The issues I see with all Thin Client OSes are as follows:
>
> 1. XPe - the most advanced TC OS, is only available as XPe SP2 which
> doesn't
> contain MS RDC 6.1. You *could* try installing it onto the TC, but I'm
> not
> too sure this would work (I don't have one here now to play with, either).
> No noise heard about manufacturers moving to XPe SP3 yet. I wonder when
> this
> will happen.
>
> 2. Vista Embedded. Not likely! 
>
> 3. WinCE - All of the TCs I've seen based on WinCE are WinCE 5.0 at best -
> nothing is based on the current WinCE release - 6.0. I don't know if
> WinCE
> 6.0 even has MS RDC 6.1, but I'd be betting that it doesn't,
> unfortunately.
>
> 4. Linux - if using rdesktop (which they all seem to), then there's been
> no
> development of this in years, with the latest RDP protocol supported being
> the old (old) 5.2 version. So, unfortunately, none of the Linux-based TC
> OSes will worrk either.
>
> 5. Proprietary - both Wyse and HP, and likely others, have their own
> proprietary TC OSes. Who knows what protocols they support and when new
> protocol support will be added to these OSes.
>
> Basically, right now, not even Microsoft's own TC OSes support MS RDC 6.1,
> which is quite disappointing. I'd like to see MS pushing manufacturers to
> upgrade their WinCE 5.0 to 6.0 and XPe to SP3, and have MS RDC 6.1 in all
> of
> these - this would make the current WinCE and XPe TCs quite functional in
> TS
> 2008.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Hilton Travis
> http://blog.hiltontravis.com/
> Managing Director
> Quark IT
> Brisbane, Australia
>
> Australian SBSC PAL - FY08-09
> http://www.SBSCPAL.com/
>
>
> "Jeff Pitsch" wrote:
>
>> So what I'm trying to say is I'm sure most vendors are like this where
>> it's
>> a simple replaceable module or a reflash of the existing module.
>>
>> --
>> Jeff Pitsch
>> Microsoft MVP - Terminal Services
>>
>> "Jeff Pitsch" <jeff@jeffpitschconsulting.com> wrote in message
>> news:%23Mr22c5AJHA.1136@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> > Actually I was just playing with a thin client from CLI and I forgot
>> > about
>> > this. The CLI thin clients have replaceable modules so you can put in
>> > XPe, Linux, or WinCE just by changing the module.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Jeff Pitsch
>> > Microsoft MVP - Terminal Services
>> >
>> > "Jeff Pitsch" <jeff@jeffpitschconsulting.com> wrote in message
>> > news:eWkBfD4AJHA.2264@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> >> The upgrade question I do not know. I would tend to doubt it but I
>> >> simply do not know.
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Jeff Pitsch
>> >> Microsoft MVP - Terminal Services
>> >>
>> >> "lamaslany" <lamaslany@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:9DB52A5E-F3E2-4992-8BA7-415E9C6D58C0@microsoft.com...
>> >>>I feared that might be the case. To my mind though that fact alone is
>> >>>one of
>> >>> the reasons using a Linux image rather than the WinCE image is
>> >>> looking
>> >>> so
>> >>> attractive!
>> >>>
>> >>> To my knowledge WinCE 6 is the latest version of Windows CE and is a
>> >>> distinctly seperate product from Windows XPe.
>> >>>
>> >>> Do you, or anyone else reading this, know if it is possible to
>> >>> upgrade
>> >>> from
>> >>> Windows CE to Windows XPe? That is to say assuming that the minimum
>> >>> hardware
>> >>> specifications are met it is possible to buy Windows XPe licenses and
>> >>> media
>> >>> for the purposes of upgrading from Windows CE?
>> >>>
>> >>> Thanks again,
>> >>>
>> >>> "Jeff Pitsch" wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>> Gah I'm so stupid. I totally overthought. WinCE is much like
>> >>>> Windows
>> >>>> Mobile. You typically only get new versions of software with a new
>> >>>> version
>> >>>> of the OS. So your probably going to have to get an upgrade to your
>> >>>> WinCE
>> >>>> or move to XPe to be able to do wha tyou want.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> --
>> >>>> Jeff Pitsch
>> >>>> Microsoft MVP - Terminal Services