So Google’s deal with VMWare to provide legacy Windows applications through its Chromebooks represents a big enterprise play for the search engine giant.
We’ve already heard from Gartner and CIC on why the Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) move won’t guarantee enterprise adoption of the Chromebook, but now VMWare rival Citrix has come out and said businesses won’t even want it in the first place!
Rakesh Narasimhan, the new head of Citrix’s Desktops and Apps product group, pointed out on his blog how his firm already has a deal to provide Windows apps on Chromebook.
But he also talks about why Google’s DaaS solution will fail in the enterprise marketplace.
"Customers want quick, intuitive Windows app access on their Chromebooks, which is what Citrix and Google are jointly delivering. People don’t want to have to launch a virtual desktop to get to an app, which is the experience that VMware offers.
"To see how clunky a desktop-centric approach can be, let’s take a simple example: What if you have 2 apps that conflict with each other, such as 2 versions of Excel that integrate with different LOB apps? Or maybe 2 apps that require different versions of Windows?
"These are very common scenarios that we regularly help customers address. The VMware approach makes the user launch TWO desktops, then find the apps in each desktop and launch them – complex, confusing and slow. With Citrix, people just see two application icons in Chrome OS, and launch them – simple, intuitive and fast."
So, is Google’s DaaS deal doomed to failure? I suppose we have to wait until April 8, when Microsoft withdraws support for Windows XP, to see where the market will go.
