So…that crazy, proprietary company, VMware, today released the first open-source VDI client! (Just a small jab) It’s actually a very exciting event in terms of the possibilities it opens up. Already out of the gates, VMware has announced in the press release a bunch of different partners that are leveraging this View Open client in their own solutions (ChipPC, Novell, HP, Sun…). http://vmware.com/company/news/releases/view_open_client.html

The new View Open Client includes all the major components needed for someone to take the software, adapt it to their needs and package up a rich, customized solution. This should really assist all the players in the eco-system to reduce their time to market on solutions. I’m hoping this results in some new and innovative ways to deliver virtual desktops!

Another great use case that I hope we soon see more of are commercially supported (by the vendor and VMware), turn-key solution for turning your fat PC into a dumb, highly managed “thin client’. There are some solutions out there today, but I would think that this new View Open Client would allow someone to put together a package to do this easily with out-of-the-box View integration. The great part is, that a solution someone in the eco-system puts together using the View Open Client can be submitted to VMware for formal certification and support!

If you have some good ideas on how to apply this, have at it: http://code.google.com/p/vmware-view-open-client/