VMware Horizon

Last updated
VMware Horizon
Original author(s) VMware
Developer(s) VMware
Stable release
2006 / August 11, 2020 (2020-08-11) [1]
Operating system Windows, Linux, macOS
Available inEnglish, German, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Spanish
Type Desktop virtualization
License Commercial, Proprietary
Website vmware.com/products/horizon/

VMware Horizon (formerly called Horizon View) is a commercial desktop and app virtualization product developed by VMware, Inc for Microsoft Windows, Linux and macOS operating systems. It was first sold under the name VMware 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 [2] [3] and is now referred to as "VMware Horizon" to represent desktop and app virtualization.

Contents

On July 1, 2024 Broadcom, which acquired VMware sold its EUC product line to Omnissa. This included Horizon. [4]

Features

VMware 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, [5] it licenses VMware View per concurrent desktop. [6] The bundled hypervisor, vSphere for Desktops, is functionally equivalent to vSphere Enterprise Plus. [7]

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. [6]

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 [8] protocols.

VMware Horizon Client

VMware Horizon View Client
Original author(s) VMware
Developer(s) VMware
Stable release
5.0 (Series)/ 5.3 / December 12, 2019 (2019-12-12)
Operating system Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS
Available inEnglish, German, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Spanish
Type Desktop virtualization, Thin client
License Commercial, proprietary with open-source bits [9]
Website

Users establish client connections to VMware View sessions by running the VMware View Client, through a web browser using HTML5, [10] 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. [11]

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

Versions

VMware View/Horizon

Version release history:

VMware View 3.1.3 (May 5, 2009)

VMware View 4 (November 9, 2009)

VMware Horizon 6.0 (June 19, 2014)

VMware Horizon 7.0 (March 22, 2016)

VMware Horizon 8.0 (Announced Aug 6, 2020) [14]

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References

  1. ↑ "VMware Horizon 2006". VMware Customer Connect. VMware, Inc. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "VMware Announces General Availability of VMware View 3, with Ground-Breaking Advances in Managing, Scaling and Personalizing Virtual Desktop Environments". VMware News Release. Palo Alto: VMware. 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2010-08-12. PALO ALTO, Calif., December 2, 2008 – VMware Inc. [...] today announced the general availability of VMware View 3 [...]
  3. ↑ Dignan, Larry (2014-04-09). "VMware's Horizon 6 launches, targets Citrix". ZDNet. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2014-04-16. Horizon 6 consolidates a few VMware applications.[...] VMware View becomes Horizon View.
  4. ↑ "Omnissa official launch with close of KKR acquisition". www.omnissa.com. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  5. ↑ "vSphere" . Retrieved 2023-12-22.
  6. 1 2 "VMware Horizon View 5 - Deliver Desktop Services from Your Cloud for End-User Freedom & IT Control". Archived from the original on 2013-08-12.
  7. ↑ Mallempati, Raj (3 August 2011). "Desktop Virtualization with vSphere 5: Licensing Overview (Update 8/3/11)". VMware End-User Computing Blog . Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  8. ↑ "VMware Announces Strategic Licensing and Co-development Agreement with Teradici for True Remote PC User Experience Further Bolstering its vClient Initiative" . Retrieved 2023-12-22.
  9. ↑ "OSS Licenses and Disclosure packages for VMware Horizon clients" . Retrieved 2019-04-29.
  10. ↑ "Ericom's HTML5 VDI Client for VMware View – Bet... |VMware Communities". communities.vmware.com. 30 March 2011. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  11. ↑ Sneddon, Joey (12 September 2012). "Ubuntu 12.10 Login Screen Adds Remote Desktop Access". OMG! Ubuntu!. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  12. ↑ "Release Notes for VMware Horizon 7 version 7.12". VMware. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  13. ↑ "Release Notes for VMware Horizon 7 version 7.13.1". VMware. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  14. ↑ "VMware Horizon 8 Announcement and Pricing and Packaging Updates (80146)". Knowledge Base. VMware. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  15. ↑ "Release Notes for VMware Horizon Version 2006". VMware. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  16. ↑ "Release Notes for VMware Horizon Version 2012". VMware. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  17. ↑ "Release Notes for VMware Horizon Version 2103". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  18. ↑ "Release Notes for VMware Horizon Version 2106". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  19. ↑ "Release Notes for VMware Horizon Version 2111". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  20. ↑ "VMware Horizon 8 2203 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com.
  21. ↑ "VMware Horizon 8 2206 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com.
  22. ↑ "VMware Horizon 8 2209 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com.
  23. ↑ "VMware Horizon 8 2212 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com.
  24. ↑ "VMware Horizon 8 2303 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com.
  25. ↑ "VMware Horizon 8 2306 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com.
  26. ↑ "VMware Horizon 8 2309 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com.
  27. ↑ "VMware Horizon 8 2312 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com.

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