In my last week's post, I talked about how InstallFree can make applications portable between Windows XP and Windows 7. We also posted a video showing an example of how we take an application that is not compatible with Windows 7 and make it run on Windows 7.
This week, I'd like to talk a little bit about another type of application that's causing a lot of problems for customers migrating to Windows 7: the web-based application.
Web-based applications often use client-side browser plug-ins like Java or Flash, which create strong dependencies between the application, the version of the plug-in, the version of the browser and the version of the OS.
For example, suppose you have an application that was written for an old version of Java (let's say 1.3) and does not run correctly with newer versions of Java. In order to run this application, you need a browser that can use Java 1.3. You can use Internet Explorer 6, but you cannot use Internet Explorer 8. Internet Explorer 6 can be used on Windows XP but cannot be used on Windows Vista (contains IE7) or Windows 7 (contains IE8). So, your web application is now effectively locked to Windows XP!
We have spoken to many customers that were struggling with this issue and, in many cases, planned to re-engineer these applications in order to successfully migrate away from Windows XP. Obviously, this was a very expensive and disruptive proposition for them.
Fortunately, InstallFree's ability to make applications portable and compatible with Windows 7 extends to web-based applications as well. Using our product, you can continue to run your legacy web applications on Windows 7 by using a virtual instance of Internet Explorer 6 or 7 that includes all the plug-ins you need.
We have just posted a new video that shows this exact use case in action. Take a look and let us know if you have any comments or additional questions.
Thanks,
Alon Yaffe
Director of Marketing
InstallFree, Inc.
alon.yaffe@installfree.com
If you were reading our web site lately (or even talked to any of us here at InstallFree), you probably noticed that we really like to talk about how InstallFree can help solve application compatibility issues when migrating to Windows 7. You might also have noticed that unlike other vendors in the app virtualization space, we don't really "hedge" or "qualify" our statements.
Where other vendors say that you can package applications on Windows XP and they will *probably* run on Windows 7 (subject to a rather long list of exceptions and conditions that you can see here and here), InstallFree just says that the applications you package on XP will run on Windows 7. Period.
Why is that we don't hedge, qualify or footnote these kinds of statements?
The answer is actually quite simple: we don't need to. If your InstallFree Virtual Apps run on Windows XP, they will run on Windows 7***
The reason other application virtualization technologies have a problem with portability is that their virtual applications are not completely isolated from the underlying OS. Or, to put it in other words, they are not really virtualized. They still use and rely on certain OS or other natively-installed components in order to function, and when those components are no longer available, the apps stop working. When you think about it, the way these other products package their applications tells the whole story: you need to install the application on a clean machine and capture the delta. Whatever was already present on this clean machine becomes a dependency that is really not 100% transferrable to a new OS.
With InstallFree, we create virtual applications that are completely isolated from the host OS. Our Encapsulator creates a virtualized environment into which you "install" the application and we don't use "delta" or "before and after" scans to identify application resources. This way, there are really no hidden dependencies and we can make applications fully portable.
In the next few weeks, we will be posting a series of demonstration videos that will focus on these OS portability use cases. The first video in the series is available right now on our web site and on our YouTube channel. It shows how we can take an application that cannot be natively installed and used on Windows 7 (in this case, Windows Server 2003 Admin Pack) and then make it run on Windows 7. Next week, we will post a video showing you how you can take an application with dependencies on legacy versions of IE and Java and run it on Windows 7.
If you have any other use cases you'd like us to demonstrate, leave a comment below or contact us and let us know.
Thanks,
Alon Yaffe
Director of Marketing
InstallFree, Inc.
alon.yaffe@installfree.com
***No hedges, qualifiers or footnotes :-)
Following our InstallFree Bridge 2.0 release earlier this month, we are happy to announce that we have released a new version of the InstallFree Encapsulator. The Encapsulator is our packaging utility that enables you to take a standard Windows application and package it as an InstallFree Virtual Application (IFV App) that is fully portable between different versions of Windows and different desktop delivery technology (distributed PC, server-based computing, VDI, USB storage, etc).
Unlike other app virtualization technologies in the market today, the InstallFree Encapsulator does not require a clean machine for packaging as it creates a clean virtualized environment into which you install your application. In addition, it can be used to virtualize complex applications that require runtime access to CDs and mapped network drives by virtualzing the drives.
Watch this short demonstration movie to see the new Encapsulator in action>>
Click here to learn more about the InstallFree Encapsulator>>
Thanks,
Alon Yaffe
Director of Marketing
InstallFree, Inc.
alon.yaffe@installfree.com
Application Virtualization is a departure from the norm typically on how most Enterprise solutions are packaged and deployed. Communicating and planning based on what you know regarding the application life cycle is critical to both the customer and the company.
Key Questions to Ask:
- What are Target Application Dependencies?: are there any dependencies with physically installed applications on the endpoint? If so what are those applications? Should or can they also be virtualized? What will the potential impact be? Always good to get a list and/or dependency mapping of all applications.
- Why is the customer migrating the application to a virtual paradigm? The typical responses are either Application Compatibility issues, OS Migration requirements, Implement Software As A Service in a Cloud, Offshore support, Reduce Terminal Server Footprint or reduce life cycle overhead. How and what you architect and implement will vary depending on what the ultimate goal of the customer is. How they will measure the success or ROI of your product within their environment.
- Compatibility with Target OS?: Not all Application Virtualization can simply be migrated to a newer version of the OS. Some require additional repackaging of the application to move to the new version. If OS Migration is a key reason - it is important to see if the applications are already virtualized and to make sure that you are working with the version of the Application Virtualization solution that is compatible with the target OS.
- Who are critical People, Processes and Technology that will be impacted? It is important to identify all the stakeholders during a production roll out, educate them on what application virtualization is, the purpose of the deployment, and what the expected impact will be to them or their organization. Typically I suggest training a SWAT team initially of the key stake holders so there are less issues around communication and misunderstanding because it is a departure from the norm.
- What is the Plan from Inception to Maintenance? The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Key to vet out and plan for not only the knowns but add time for the unknown factors that will come up.
- What is the impact on Current Solutions, Processes, and Systems? Such as can internal products used for testing, deployment, troubleshooting etc work with the virtual application? If not what are the contingency plans for this new way of packaging applications? Does the vendor supply a virtual reg edit for example? How will current processes for deployments, change orders, and asset tracking be impacted? Any special integrations needed with existing tools such as Discovery, CMDB, or Delivery mechanisms?
- What is the CUSTOMER'S Starting Point? Every customer and environment is unique. It is critical to understand what the customer's understanding is of Application Virtualization, educate them on the different approaches and work with them to take baby steps to implementing a solution so they can adjust along the way. This last one is particularly critical because too often People don't know what they don't know. It is better to start with a smaller pilot, identify GAPs in technology, training, and processes - have them addressed and then continue.
- How critical is/are the applications being virtualized? I once had a Architect ask me the impact of using virtualization in the emergency room of a hospital and the best way to recover. My answer was not to use virtualization for that purpose as the technology in general is still in early stages. When it comes to life or death - always proceed with caution when deciding whether or not to give new technology a go. The more critical the application the smaller the steps that should be taken and more planning required to cover back out plans in the event something goes wrong.
- Does the proposed architecture meet hardware requirements? One of the key reasons many people did not migrate to Vista was the hardware tax. Meaning the overhead would exceed the capacity of their system requirements. When a customer is proposing to deploying multiple versions side by side on a machine - Disk Consumption, Port Conflicts, Network Capacity, I/O, and other hardware related questions should be considered as part of the equation. Understand what the overhead is going to be on a per application basis to architect a realistic solution. Just because you theoretically can deploy multiple versions of the same application doesn't mean existing hardware can support it when this exponentially grows as more applications are virtualized.
- What is the communication strategy? Meaning people are busy with their day to day distractions of their job - it is important to set aside time to clearly create the plan, touch point calls to ensure execution, and take time to evaluate overall plan to adjust if needed. This allows everyone to set the right expectations that are achievable and realistic.
Some of this may sound like simple project management - but one would be surprised by how many times key items like compatibility with current systems, regulatory requirements, or simple lack of communication cause deployments to fail.
Regards,
Jeanne
Although our opinions are interesting they are not as relevant as our customers that use our products in production and ultimately sign our checks. Too often, technologists become so enamored with their own ideas and ego that they forget that the end user is the key to unlocking true innovation and ideas. Great ideas come from users providing feedback, presenting challenges, and looking for a solution to solve a compelling problem - not from ivory towers.
The whole internet is a "twitter" with Steve Job's comment that they don't "listen" to users for the launch of the iPad. Apple has done a great job at taking it a step further at not only "listening" to users but also observing them. As a human performance technologists by trade I applaud this approach and taking it a step even further through validation of factors in the ecosystem that will impact the users in the future to blend form and function for products that really make an impact.
InstallFree recently won product of the year for 2009 award by TMC - validating our product management philosophy of putting the user first. The key to developing strong products and ecosystems is through a succinct process that not only captures word for word what the users say but also records what they don't say - what they do. One of the rules of cognitive ergonomics is that once a user becomes an expert at something they tend to overlook issues that may have significant impact to their productivity, how they do their job, etc because they have developed and automatic response. What they say will not necessarily match what can be discovered through observing them - what will really make an impact.
If product innovators only listened to users there would be no true innovation - but more of rehashing of the old systems and problems. True paradigm shifts are born from observing more than talking - and taking the time to walk a mile in the end user's shoes. No one company or person will always get it right - but as long as we continue to improve based on valuable user feedback (listening, observing) balanced with overarching market changes (Regulatory, Economic, User) followed by execution and communication - we hope it will enable us to make a difference in the lives of the customers we serve and people that use our products.
Thank you to all our valuable customers, partners and supporters that helped make this award achievable. Regards,Jeanne MorainChief Marketing Officer, InstallFree
Wow another year has passed before we knew it. What does 2010 have in store? How much of it is hype from Johnny come lately vendors trying to jump on the money train and how much of it will actually amount to products that make a difference - is yet to be determined. Here is my best guess of things to come for the next year:
1) Cloud - will continue to be the marketing "Hype" word. Every Web 2.0, IT As A Service, Virtualization Platform, Systems Management Company etc will continue to jump on the "Cloud" bandwagon to get their piece of the pie. This will continue to muddy the waters and confuse IT and Senior executives while they try to figure out what is really a cloud and what is not. This will delay actual adoption and/or fuel more pilots (similar to VDI) to enable IT to figure out best strategy, impact, and additional tools required to drive more efficiency and less costs during their implementation cycles.
2) Compliance - will play a much bigger role in driving new product innovation and budgets - once again catching the naysayer off guard as it did with SOX and having more vendors jump on that bandwagon. We now have a Cybersecurity Czar, new provisions for Health Care, pending deadlines for Electronic Medical Records, and Auditors asking for more details on how and what tools are available to check impact of virtualization. This is a big area that really needs more thought leadership, standards and catch up a like.
3) War between Physical and Virtual will continue to heat up - who will win the war between the big paradigm shift? The current physical tools in place or the virtualization only tools. The answer here is simple - the hybrid approach. Customers will push back on attempts to virtualize ALL their desktops, servers, systems, and tools. They will force vendors to have a single pane of glass to manage both physical and virtual paradigms. Those that provide the bridge between the physical and virtual paradigm across the stack will win the war.
4) Win 7 Migration Planning - less deploying until 2nd half of this year and into 2011. Most large enterprise customers I have worked with over the years take a minimum of 18 months to migrate to a new OS. Many are just cutting their teeth on Win 7 and trying to determine what is viable and what is not in terms of the biggest factors that inhibited Vista adoption - Application Compatibility, Hardware Requirements, and impact on end users (business continuity). They are once bit and twice shy with Vista although they know they have to migrate because many skipped Vista and XP is on it's way out.
5) 2010 is the Year of the Desktop - over the last 3-5 years the desktop has taken a back seat in terms of budgets, hype cycle and innovation. Many vendors tried to apply server technology to the desktop to extend their reach into the proverbial pocketbook of the Enterprise but have fueled internal debates and concern. Desktop Managers, Architects, and Dependent groups are pushing back while creating their own evaluations and new paradigms will emerge as a result. They have successfully shown through failed pilots, business cases, etc that solutions which solve server issues can not be easily used to solve desktop issues as well.
6) Financial Institutions will still see Cloudy market -Many of the revenues they enjoyed in 2009 will diminish based on clamping down by government with new taxes being levied on the financial services industry to cover the recent bailout combined with more foreclosures from the last wave of interest only loans coming due in 2010 and 2011, and the high unemployment rate. This market will continue to be uncertain and executives will continue to proceed with caution with the exception of projects that enable more visibility (Compliance and Analytics), costs reduction initiatives such as consolidating data centers or staff to less expensive markets (salary, land, taxes).
7) Compliance and Compatibility will drive adoption of alternative solutions such as Application Virtualization, Web 2.0, and Virtual Desktops. The number of pilots and niche adoptions for virtual applications, converting applications to Web 2.0 (similar to Salesforce.com), and niche deployments of virtual desktops will increase as companies try to determine the most cost effective approach to balancing increased demand for mobility (home office, global), regulations, and they are forced to migrate to Win 7 or an alternative.
8) Software as a Service and IT as a Service will heat up in Healthcare, Education, and Government - Regulations and Budget cuts across the board are pushing C Level executives to rethink the way they do business. Smaller doctors offices, clinics and hospitals will scramble for low cost alternatives that enable using User Based provisioning from a hosted model versus per seat license count to reduce costs, support overhead, and impact on not complying. Education will follow suit to ensure Privacy Act provisions are in place as more displaced workers return to school and more emphasis and actual fines are being placed on violations of privacy. Budget strapped state and local governments will look for ways to drive efficiency and process to deal with their staffing shortages and shortfall in general. Virtualization and BSM will prove to be viable solutions.
9) Consolidation will continue in overall Systems Management Space - interesting moves this month with HP and Microsoft partnership (should not overshadow VMware/HP Partnership). More sleeping giants like Dell, BMC and CA with their larger partners like Salesforce.com, Oracle, and Cisco will up their game through enhanced partnerships, being acquired, and/or acquiring newer technologies to refresh their portfolio to combat the race for the Cloud, Virtual Desktops, and Service Management tools as the tornado continues.
10) High Growth for Process Engineering and Technical Services for various forms of virtualization, cloud, and communications. As more larger companies jump on the SaaS, Cloud, and virtualization bandwagon there will be a greater need to work with "experts" that can enable IT and C Level Executives define not only the best way to implement these technologies but also what will be needed from a process and people (new skill set) perspective. These technologies are still fairly nascent and have impacted or changed the way that many things are tracked, deployed and maintained. Companies have invested millions in creating processes, tools, and audit trails around traditional systems. They will look to see how they can reap the savings rewards for newer technologies without having to rebuild their entire ecosystem, have duplicate systems, or stretch an already stretched out team any further. More expertise will be needed to assist with reducing inter departmental friction through process re-engineering, vendor evaluations, and implementing from pilot to production.
2010 will be an exciting departure and similar to when BSM first started a significant year of growth for many vendors (small and big a like) and seeing who will emerge as leaders in this area will be very exciting.
Cheers,
Jeanne
We all have much to be thankful for this holiday season. As with any new season - it is a time for reflection on what has past and hope for a bright future on what is to come. The dismal economic climate can often cloud even the most up beat enthusiasts on the future. Now is the time for change to embrace a new paradigm in desktop computing.
The hardest part for anyone embarking upon deploying virtualization around the desktop or up the stack to the application - is ensuring that one has the right set of skills in place to understand all the requirements.
One of the biggest realizations in terms of skills is remembering our past mistakes. We may find that many of the skills we need are there - either within our lessons learned from deploying physical applications, server virtualization basic principles, or within our network base of peers.
Many of the basic requirements for deploying a virtual application have been solved and identified with deploying physical applications in distributed or server hosted environments. Simply put - service desk will still be critical, as will asset tracking, change management, and having the ability to audit all layers of the stack - regardless of whether the environment is physical or virtual.
One way to identify the required skills sets is to understand what is currently being done today (that sets the minimum bar) and ensure whatever the tool that is being evaluated can meet those minimum requirements from a people, processes and technology perspective.
Last week InstallFree attended VMworld for the 2
nd year and I must admit that a year makes a world of difference. For those that think the economy is slowing, you should have been there... people were active and had defined budgets for virtualization projects addressing challenges from application compatibility to wide scale initiatives for migrating to Windows 7.
The biggest difference this year I saw is that people were far more educated about application and desktop virtualization than ever before. There were more people seeking out specific solutions and asking the right questions about how app and desktop virtualization can solve current desktop computing challenges.
The discussion moved from "what is app and desktop virtualization?" to "how can your app and desktop virtualization solution solve problem xyz?" From a vendor perspective, this is exactly the direction we want the conversations to be moving for 2 reasons:
- Prospects go into a conversation understanding the value of app and desktop virtualization - the key is now applying it to their pain points.
- It helps vendors move to solution selling which results in closing business.
There is no question that companies like VMware, Citrix and Microsoft have put a lot of wood behind the application and desktop virtualization arrow and customers are starting to see the value and apply it to their current environments. They saw the value of server virtualization and now want to reap the same or better results on arguably the important and mission critical IT component in the company... the desktop.
I can only imagine what next year will bring...
If you are a seasoned user of social sites, including Livejournal, Facebook, and most notably Twitter, you may have noticed slow response times, timeout errors, and at some points, the services just weren't available this past week. This is because these sites were hit by a massive DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack, rendering them virtually helpless. How are DDoS attacks generated? DDoS attacks come from users. This is what makes them so hard to track and shut down - if these attacks came from one source, say an offshore server, they would be easy to stop, or at least block. The DDoS attack that affected Twitter and other social networking sites came from malware on millions of computers that originated from risky online behavior. Unsafe websites and downloads often contain malware that embeds itself into the computer and does nothing until, well, this happens. Regular antivirus scanning and careful internet browsing are a powerful deterrent to DDoS attacks, but these practices are not always followed. The more control a user has over his or her computing experience within a school or a company directly correlates to the probability of that machine contracting some form of malware. To combat this issue, a locked down PC would be the ultimate solution. In a locked down PC, users have no administrative privileges, and are blocked from changing applications or operating system settings. This gives IT the highest level of centralized control. Are there drawbacks? Traditionally, from the user experience, yes. Users expect more control and flexibility with their machines. People are becoming increasingly tech savvy and expect to be able to utilize the productivity tools they work best with.
InstallFree application virtualization allows the user to have the computing experience he or she would want, while still working on a locked down machine. InstallFree creates a virtual version of the browser of your choice, allowing you to browse and customize as you see fit. The browser is encapsulated with all of the resources it needs to function independently from the operating system: registry, read/write file system, DLL pool, settings, and language-base. All personal settings are kept in a separate encrypted UserData file which dynamically binds with the virtual application at run time.
Window 7 is on the top of mind for many users and IT alike. What is the impact? Will I have to purchase new hardware? What do I do if my hardware is not compatible with the new XP Mode required to run some of my legacy applications?
Know the GAPs – Hardware Compatability
Hardware compatibility should be a concern but it is definitely not a show stopper for planning your Win 7 deployments. Some legacy hardware may not be able to support the requirements needed for the XP Mode feature to work. In particular – IT will need to ensure that the processor virtualization capabilities are supported and can be turned on within the hardware itself. For example, Sony has recently announced they will be blocking this feature on VAIO laptops.
Viable Alternatives – Package Once, Deploy Everywhere
Although XP Mode is a viable option – what do you do when it is not available? Windows 7 can still be deployed by leveraging viable options that enable applications to run across multiple OS versions – including Win 7. With hardware virtualization disabled, VAIO users won't be able to take advantage of virtual XP but they can certainly take advantage of Application Virtualization to achieve the same goal (running legacy applications on a Win 7 OS. InstallFree's application virtualization allows users to virtualize their applications, streaming them down to any host operating system (XP, Vista, Windows 7.) This process eliminates application/operating system compatibility issues, and even allows multiple versions of the same program ( for example, Word 2003 and Word 2007) to run simultaneously on the same machine.
Not All Application Virtualization is the SAME
When you are considering alternative solutions such as application virtualization – be sure to plan ahead and understand what the impact to your Windows 7 environment is going to be. There are 3 generations of architectures – the first 2 are OS dependant and may require that you repackage ALL your applications – having 2 sets to manage, maintain, and deploy during migration. Avoid increasing complexity and costs by understanding and ensuring you are picking the right architecture for your needs – especially if you are planning a move to Win 7.
For Example:
Agent Based – agent that installs into the physical kernel of the PC. There will be some requirements for this agent to be installed and compatible with the OS. That means that you will need to ensure there is no single point of failure, OS compatibility, and testing.
Agentless – these technologies are not truly agentless – the agent is embedded in the application itself during the virtualization process. In some cases they virtualize a component of the OS and thus require to repackage all your applications to move to Win 7 or in general if there is a security update to the agent itself. For IT Admins with hundreds to thousands of applications this could take months, a lot more regression testing, and costs.
Hybrid – The InstallFree approach is to provide a “Virtual Client” that maintains and manages the applications based on policy. Because we have our own file system we are not dependant on the underlying registry to run our virtual applications – breaking the bonds between OS versions and application dependencies. Allowing IT to run virtually any application across the various Windows OS types (XP, Vista, Win 7, 2003, etc.)
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