| Other names | VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, VMware View, VMware Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM) |
|---|---|
| Original author(s) | VMware |
| Developer(s) | Omnissa |
| Stable release | |
| Operating system | Windows, Linux, macOS |
| Available in | English, Japanese, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese [2] |
| Type | Desktop virtualization |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www |
Omnissa Horizon (formerly called VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, VMware View) is a commercial desktop and app virtualization product originally developed by VMware, Inc for Microsoft Windows, Linux and macOS operating systems.
It was first sold under the name VMware Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM), but with the release of version 3.0.0 in 2008 it was changed to "VMware View". The name was updated to "Horizon View" with the launch of version 6 in April 2014 [3] [4] and then referred to as "VMware Horizon" to represent desktop and app virtualization.
Broadcom completed its acquisition of VMware in November 2023, and then in May 2024 spun out the End-User Computing division, including Horizon, into a standalone entity called Omnissa pending the sale to KKR. [5] [6] [7]
Omnissa Horizon provides virtual desktop and app capabilities to users utilizing VMware's virtualization technology. A desktop operating system - typically Microsoft Windows - runs within a virtual machine on a hypervisor. VMware Horizon product has a number of components which are required to provide the virtual desktops, including:
Although VMware licenses vSphere hypervisor per physical CPU-socket, [8] it licenses VMware View per concurrent desktop. [9] The bundled hypervisor, vSphere for Desktops, is functionally equivalent to vSphere Enterprise Plus. [10]
VMware View has two licensing options, Enterprise and Premier. Enterprise comes with vSphere for Desktops, vCenter Server, and View Manager, and has an MSRP of $150 per concurrent desktop. View Composer, Persona Management, vShield Endpoint, and ThinApp are included in the Premier edition at an MSRP of $250 per concurrent desktop. [9]
In order to transport the desktop resources to users, keyboard, video, mouse and other interactions travel over a network connection. VMware View supports the VMware Blast Extreme, Microsoft RDP, and the Teradici PCoIP [11] protocols.
| Other names | VMware Horizon Client, VMware Horizon View Client, VMware View Client |
|---|---|
| Original author(s) | VMware |
| Developer(s) | Omnissa |
| Stable release | 2412 |
| Operating system | Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS |
| Available in | English, German, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Spanish |
| Type | Desktop virtualization, Thin client |
| License | Commercial, proprietary with open-source bits [12] |
| Website | customerconnect |
Users establish client connections to VMware View sessions by running the VMware View Client, through a web browser using HTML5, [13] or using a thin client that supports the protocols in use. The VMware View client supports Windows, macOS, Android, and Linux, while ChromeOS is able to connect through the web browser.
Ubuntu 12.10 can login to VMware View desktops directly from the login screen. [14]
Version release history:
VMware Horizon 6.0 (June 19, 2014)
VMware Horizon 7.0 (March 22, 2016)
VMware Horizon 8.0 (Announced Aug 6, 2020) [17]
VMware Horizon 8 [18]
| Version | General Availability | End of General Support | End of Technical Guidance | ESB Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2020-08-11 | 2025-08-11 | 2027-08-11 | |
| 2012 | 2021-01-07 | 2024-01-07 | 2025-01-07 | |
| 2103 | 2021-03-23 | 2024-03-23 | 2025-03-23 | |
| 2106 | 2021-07-15 | 2024-07-15 | 2025-07-15 | |
| 2111 | 2021-11-30 | 2024-11-30 | 2025-11-30 | |
| 2203 | 2022-01-07 | 2025-01-07 | 2026-01-07 | |
| DaaS On Prem 9.1 | 2021-01-07 | 2024-01-07 | 2025-01-07 | |
| 2206 | 2022-07-19 | 2025-07-19 | 2026-07-19 | |
| 2209 | 2022-10-20 | 2025-10-20 | 2026-10-20 | |
| 2212 | 2023-01-12 | 2026-01-12 | 2027-01-12 | |
| 2303 | 2023-03-30 | 2026-03-30 | 2027-03-30 | |
| 2306 | 2023-07-06 | 2026-07-06 | 2027-07-06 | |
| 2309 | 2023-10-26 | 2026-10-26 | 2027-10-26 | |
| 2312 | 2024-01-23 | 2027-01-23 | 2028-01-23 | Yes [19] |
| 2406 | 2024-07-25 | 2027-07-25 | 2028-07-25 | Yes |
| 2412 | 2024-01-28 | 2027-01-28 | 2028-01-28 | No [20] |
| DaaS 9.2.0 | 2023-04-27 | 2026-04-27 | 2027-04-27 | |
Legend: Old version, not maintained Old version, still maintained Latest version Latest preview version Future version | ||||
The Client software is known as Client Agent Release Train (CART). CART it is on a separate release cycle than VMware View/Horizon but often coincides with it.
Horizon Clients
Horizon Clients - Naming convention changed to denote the year and month of build release
PALO ALTO, Calif., December 2, 2008 – VMware Inc. [...] today announced the general availability of VMware View 3 [...]
Horizon 6 consolidates a few VMware applications.[...] VMware View becomes Horizon View.
