VMware View

VMware View is a commercial desktop-virtualization product developed by VMware, Inc. Its first two releases (2.0.0 and 2.1.0) sold under the name VMware VDM, but with the 3.0.0 release in 2008 VMware Inc. changed the name to "VMware View".

VMware View provides remote desktop capabilities to users using VMware's virtualization technology. A client desktop operating-system - typically Microsoft Windows 7, Vista or XP - runs within a virtual environment on a server. The VMware View product has a number of components which are required to provide the virtual desktops, including:

• VMware vSphere for Desktops (includes ESXi, VMware's hypervisor)
• VMware vCenter Server (management of virtualization environment)
• View Composer (advanced View management, with automation and cloning)
• View Manager (administration of the View Environment)
• View Client (communication between View and the desktop OS)
• VMware ThinApp (application virtualization)
• View Persona Management (user profile management)
• vShield Endpoint (offloaded desktop antivirus)

Although the vSphere hypervisor is licensed per physical CPU socket, VMware View is licensed per concurrent desktop. The bundled hypervisor, vSphere for Desktops, is functionally equivalent to vSphere Enterprise Plus.

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.

In order to transport a view of the desktop to users, keyboard, video, mouse and other interactions travel over a LAN connection. VMware View supports both the Microsoft-developed RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and the Teradici-licensed PCoIP (PC-over-IP) protocol.

Client connections to VMware View sessions are established by running a VMware View Client on a local host. Clients are supported for most versions of Windows, along with Mac OS X. Specific embedded clients are also supported for a large number of thin clients, for a list of supported clients refer to the VMware website.

An open-source product called "VMware View Open Client" can connect from a Linux or Mac OS X desktop to remote Windows desktops managed by VMware View. The client uses rdesktop under the hood to connect to the host.

An HTML5 Client for VMware View is available to enable access to VMware View desktops directly from within any HTML5-compatible web browser such as Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox (for Windows, Linux, Mac and Chrome OS devices, such as Chromebooks).

Ubuntu 12.10 can login to VMware View desktops directly from the login screen.