My thoughts on Microsoft RemoteFX

I just read this article from Max Herrmann on the new RemoteFX, a superset of RDP which is set to release with the SP1 of Windows Server 2008 R2.

Now everybody in the industry is yelling at Microsoft for the approach they’re taking related to a VDI approach of the technology, but I think that there’s a point that has been overlooked by most, and that’s the Remote Desktop scenario.

During my many PoC on VDI I found out that many customers can easy classify users in tiers (I’m oversimplifying but try to get the point):

• Simple users – Office suite users, Internet browsing.
• Power users – Rich media users, CAD / CAM users.
• C-Level users – No VDI for them, top level personal notebook.

Now for Power users until recently there was no real VDI solution, they were confined to PCoIP using teradici host cards on physical hardware and nothing more, when View 4 came out PCoIP became a real solution for those workers.

C-Level users are usually a matter that no ICT manager want to deal with, they like to have the best technology always at hand, they don’t want to work with restriction, they want a notebook (even if they use it exclusively at the office) so no VDI for them is a no brainer.

Now let’s focus on Simple users, they do not have a real need for performance so a PCoIP client with a dedicate VM would be overkill, a dedicated PC is out of the question (for manageability and cost), so they’re a perfect candidate for a Remote Desktop session on a Terminal Server!

Right now the RDP 6 protocol running on Terminal Server is more than sufficient for Office purposes, but the web experience is getting more and more rich and the Simple users are getting constricted by RDP, and this RemoteFX could boost their experience.

So it will be nice to see Microsoft play hard in this space, VDI in my opinion is in its early stage of life more can be done and that’s a step in the right direction.

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