Combining non-persistent images and user installed applications – A really bad idea!

This article stems from that the fact that I’ve been asked several times the same question: “So, I’m looking to do VDI, and I want to use non-persistent / perishable images – but at the same time I want to allow my users to install their own apps. Can you software support that?”. That is what I’m going to address in this article.

For those of you wondering, this article had initially absolutely nothing to do with the whole Citrix/Ringcube thing, as I started writing a month prior to the press release last week. However since it’s a now a reality, it needs to be factored in. I now get questions like; “So, the RingCube/Citrix acuquisition – how does it affect RES?“. The short and precise answer is:

Not At All.

If I was in the business of, oh say… User Virtualization, perhaps I would have reason to worry, however neither layering nor virtualization has ever been in RES Software’s technology sphere. Seen from the point of the RES Workspace Manager, the RingCube offering is just another carrier platform, into which we can inject dynamic settings and manage security on top. Another thing to be aware of: Security around a layered environment is still very relevant to be managed as I presume that certain applications, such as games, torrent clients and other non-business apps aren’t wanted there either. The RES Workspace Manager can control what you are allowed to install, on a very granular level. I will explain this further into this article…

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