VMware Launches New View Clients for Mac and Linux

VMware developed these new clients in response to demand from users who want to be able to use their device of choice, particularly in the education sector, which is at the forefront of the bring-your-own-device trend. According to VMware, "the introduction of the new VMware View Clients for Mac and Linux will enable campus IT organizations to better support these end users and help ensure that students have readily available access to their applications and a consistent learning experience across devices."

"Fifty-one percent of our faculty computers are Macs and just over 29 percent of our student population uses Macs," said Steve Swartz, chief information officer and AVP of Technology at Fitchburg State University. "Having a Mac client running VMware View with PCoIP is critical to our ability to extend VDI to these users."

Key features of the new VMware View Client for Mac and Linux include:

  • Support for Ubuntu 10.4 and 10.10;
  • Support for Intel-based Macs running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and Mac OS X Lion 10.7.0 or later;
  • PCoIP display protocol optimized for VMware View 5 to deliver high-performance desktop experience across the LAN or WAN, even over low-bandwidth and high-latency connections;
  • Full screen support for Mac OS X Lion users;
  • Ability to copy and paste plain text between View 4.x virtual machines and Mac OS X;
  • Ability to copy and paste text, formatted text, and graphics between View 5.x virtual machines and Mac OS X;
  • Tight integration with VMware View 4.6 and later releases to simplify setup and connectivity;
  • Enhanced certificate checking on the client to help ensure secure connections;
  • Support for optional RSA authentication; and
  • Ability to add up to four VMware View server shortcuts in VMware View Client for Mac.

Technology previews of the VMware View Clients for Mac and Linux are now available from the VMware site. The VMware View Client for Kindle Fire will soon be available in the Amazon Appstore for Android.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

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