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Golden Week 黄金週間

WorldDesk would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone in Japan a safe and happy Golden Week.

For those unfamiliar with the term, Golden Week is a collection of national holidays that fall within a seven day period. These include Shōwa Day, Constitution Memorial Day, Greenery Day and Children's Day. Many offices and businesses close for up to 10 days over this period as it is generally a time for vacation and travel.

This year, Golden Week was marked on all our calendars at WorldDesk HQ because we've had a team in Tokyo for the last two months working on a project. As you can imagine, it was pretty important that we got everything wrapped up (and we did!) before this holiday period.

As part of our continued focus on AsiaPac, we are looking specifically at the Japanese market. A recent press release from the International Data Corporation (IDC) highlighted that globally there's been the steepest ever decline in PC shipments. However, it did point to unique opportunities in the Japanese market where:

"economic improvement is helping to support commercial replacement [of PCs] demand ahead of the scheduled end of support for Windows XP next year"

While Windows 8 is wholly blamed for the drop in new PC sales, it's pretty clear that there are a lot of enterprises out there who are still on Windows XP and are purchasing new PCs to move to a newer OS. It looks like most will forgo Windows 8 for now (we wrote a blog about this back November 2012) and upgrade to Windows 7. That's why we've kept our Enterprise solution focused on Windows XP and Windows 7 with a very simple remit:

WorldDesk virtualizes and centralizes the users’ desktop; in doing so we help companies save money in IT management costs while providing their end-users with a rich and personalized computing experience.

In these tough times with reduced IT budgets, this is certainly a message that is resonating with customers.

Over this Golden Week we'll be publishing new materials in both English and Japanese to let our AsiaPac colleagues know more about how WorldDesk can help you make the most of your IT infrastructure. We'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences in AsiaPac too, so drop us a note in the comments.

- Stevie Morrow

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Keep It Simple Stupid!

When Steve Jobs launched the Apple II Personal Computer in 1977 it was accompanied with the slogan, and long term Apple mantra, "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". As a result Jobs is often wrongly attributed as the author of this quote. The wording was actually published twenty-two years earlier by William Gaddis in his novel The Recognitions. Interestingly, Leonardo de Vinici also gets accredited with this phrase - try a quick Google search and see - it's just one of those lines that resonates so much it's hard to pinpoint who came up with it first.

At WorldDesk we’ve worked very hard to put simplicity at the core of our technology, but it hasn't been easy. When we first showed WorldDesk For You to one of our Investors he loved it, but told us the installation and setup needed to be simpler. Think "one-click" he said. Today you can have WorldDesk for You up and running with six clicks...not quite one but we're getting there! 'Click' here to try it for yourself. 

In the world of Enterprise software and especially Virtualization technologies, Jobs'/Gaddis'/da Vinci's (you choose!) quote just doesn't fit. But at WorldDesk, we're used to not fitting. So when it came to the installation and setup of WorldDesk for Enterprise (WDFE) we were determined to keep it simple (stupid!).  We have made four short videos (all less than 6 minutes) that will take any user through the different stages of setting up WDFE.

PREREQUISITES FOR INSTALLATION

Unlike other solutions, our Enterprise technology only requires a simple storage server. This keeps backend infrastructure costs low and requires minimal maintenance. This video will show you how to prepare your server so it is ready to install WorldDesk for Enterprise.

INSTALLATION & CONFIGURATION

After the server has been prepared the next step is to install the WorldDesk for Enterprise software. The WorldDesk installation wizard makes this process really simple. You'll be guided through each step and are only required to review or edit the installation defaults.

ADMINISTRATIVE FEATURES OF THE MANAGEMENT CONSOLE

Now the WorldDesk Management Console is setup we want to give you an overview of the main administrative features. This includes the process for creating 'Templates', 'Users', 'Groups' and 'Desktops'. To help system administrators, the Management Console can be opened on any browser and accessed remotely.

The key feature of the WorldDesk Management Console is our unique Template technology. Templates form the cornerstone for how our desktops are created, dramatically reducing the complexities and costs of desktop management.

In short, Templates serve three roles:

They're used to install applications and define customization settings.

They quickly create an unlimited number of Desktops. All Desktops created from a given Template automatically share the applications and settings that are part of Template.

They radically simplify desktop management. Applying a patch or update to thousands of Desktops is as simple as making the changes to just one Template.

INSTALLING APPLICATIONS ON THE TEMPLATE

In this last video, we will setup a Windows 7 client machine and then demonstrate how to install applications on the Template we created earlier.

You can install applications on a Template in the same way you would on any regular physical computer. The difference is, if you add applications to a Template, all Desktops that have been created using this Template, will also receive these applications.

And that's it! Four videos, twenty minutes later, and you now know how to setup and manage WorldDesk for Enterprise.

Simplicity really is the ultimate sophistication...

- Jonathan Chesney (Director of Product Management)

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Why WorldDesk Is Unique

In today's desktop market it seems that everybody is offering the same solution. There's a lot of noise about "mobility" and accessing your desktop "anywhere" but are all these solutions the same? The simple answer is no. In this blog I hope to give a broad overview of the virtualization landscape and point out what really makes WorldDesk unique.

Generally speaking, desktop virtualization providers fall into one of two categories:

Client-Hosted Desktop Virtualization.

Server-Hosted Desktop Virtualization.

Below is an overview of some of the key vendors in this area.

With the exception of WorldDesk, all of these vendors are based on a Type 1, or Type 2, Hypervisor architecture model.

--o--

Type 1 Hypervisor Model

VDI solutions, like Citrix, VMWare and Microsoft Hyper-V, use a Type 1 Hypervisor. For each user there is virtualized individual operating system running on the server.

All the processing is done on the server and the end user gets a graphical representation of a desktop streamed to their computer. This streaming component requires a constant and fast internet connection.

For a more detailed look at the differences between WorldDesk and VDI solutions take a look my earlier blog.

--o--

Type 2 Hypervisor Model

With Type 2 Hypervisor solutions like MokaFive and Parallels, the virtual desktop runs natively on the client (end-point) and uses the local computing resources.

At first glance you might expect applications to run better than a Type 1 Hypervisor Model since all the processing is done locally. This is not the case. With a hosted hypervisor you need to go through many more layers of software: your host operating system, a hypervisor and then another operating system. This all leads to a noticeable drop in performance.

--o--

The WorldDesk Model

WorldDesk brings a fresh new approach to the market. WorldDesk provides an isolated Container with your applications, your files and your profile. This Container is completely separate from the operating system and underlying hardware making it fully portable. The WorldDesk Container does not include a separate Operating System so is very small in size. As all the processing is done on the local computer, without the new of a hypervisor, there is no need to compromise on performance.

--o--

Compare The Market

Based on these architecture models there are some unavoidable and well documented limitations of hypervisor solutions.

Type 1 Hypervisor solutions typically have high infrastructure costs as the server is required to hosts multiple copies of an operating system and multiple copies of an application. The server also takes care of all the processing for every application used - this has negative effects when a user tries to run high performance applications. The WorldDesk solution only uses the server for storage and as all processing is done on the client, can easilly run heavyweight applications like AutoCAD. With WorldDesk's template technology only one copy of an application is stored on the server. This makes significant savings in storage space.

As the Type 2 Hypervisor is tied to specific device it offers no mobility value. In addition, a system administrator has to pay for, and manage, two OSes (the host OS and guest VM OS) which creates scalability and ease of management issues.

--o--

Our Conclusion

The WorldDesk Container is a unique, patented and highly innovative way to decouple the desktop from the underlying operating system and physical device.

This gives WorldDesk a clear advantage in the Virtual Desktop space again competitors, especially in terms of deployment, management, user experience and performance.

If you'd like a summary of the key points covered in this blog you can download a Vision Paper we've prepared here.

- Jonathan Chesney (Director of Product Management)

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Secure Your World

WorldDesk for Enterprise allows the IT department to create an Offline Image of the WorldDesk Container. This Offline Image can then be stored and accessed locally on the user’s laptop hard drive or even on a USB drive. The user is now no longer tied to a specific PC or even to the enterprise network; they can access their WorldDesk Container without even having a network or Internet connection.

However, the very portable nature of the Offline Image raises security concerns. If the device (laptop or USB) with the WorldDesk Container is lost or stolen will your data still be protected? 

Your Data Is Safe

The unique way that the WorldDesk Container runs in the user space allows us to use on-the-fly encryption (OTFE) tools to create a virtual encrypted volume. Deploying the Offline Image directly into a virtual encrypted volume ensures that the users applications, profile and data are fully encrypted and therefore secure.

OTFE technology means that data is automatically encrypted or decrypted right before it is loaded or saved, without any user intervention. No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password/key file(s) or correct encryption keys.

We have proven this method of securing the WorldDesk Container using the very popular, free, open-source OTFE software called TrueCrypt. It offers up to 256-bit encryption. Our Senior Software Engineer, Andriy Kuznetsov, has put together a "How-to Guide" that gives a step-by-step tutorial on how you can secure your WorldDesk with TrueCrypt.

In The Pipeline

The method described above relies on the user or IT Admin manually creating the encrypted volume in the first instance. WorldDesk is currently looking at a fully integrated solution where the OTFE is embedded into our solution. In this case the Offline Image would be automatically encrypted when it is created via the WorldDesk Management Console or directly from within the WorldDesk Container. We already have a non-commercial prototype of this in our R&D labs - as soon as we have a release version we'll be sure to let you know!

- Amruth Kumar Sala (Director of Operations)

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WorldDesk for Dummies

It's the start of a new year so I thought I'd do a quick refresher blog on all things WorldDesk. WorldDesk for Dummies is your chance to quickly learn what WorldDesk does and understand some of the ways it can be used...

OUR CORE TECHNOLOGY

Everything we do at WorldDesk is based around one core piece of technology. This is easiest to explain by first looking at how applications are installed on a typical computer.

If you install an application onto your computer, it is pretty much tied to that device. That's because during the installation process an application will add system files, like configuration files, DLL files, and registry edits, to various locations across your machine. In order to function, the application requires access to all these system files and as such, can only run on the specific machine it was installed on.

With WorldDesk we provide a completely separate, isolated container that is fully portable. The WorldDesk container sits on top of a computer's operating system and doesn't create any new system files on a host machine. This container allows you to carry round not just your files but also your applications and profile settings - basically your entire computer desktop.

Now you understand the core technology behind WorldDesk, what can this be used for? That's what we're going to look at next.

WORLDDESK FOR ENTERPRISE

WorldDesk for Enterprise allows your business to configure, provision and manage large-scale workspace deployments. The workspaces are created and controlled centrally with the benefit of being easily delivered to your team over the network. The operating system and hardware of the machines on the network are utilised but your employee’s applications, files and settings are held and managed centrally. WorldDesk for Enterprise integrates with Microsoft's Active Directory to utilise existing authentication and security provisions.

WorldDesk is not VDI. VDI solutions virtualize the desktop on the server-side while WorldDesk employs client-side technology which delivers an uncompromised user experience. Significantly, this client-side virtualization allows users to run processor intensive applications like AutoCad and watch HD video.

WORLDDESK AS A VDI EXTENSION

For those organisations that have an existing VMWare or Citrix VDI solution already in place, WorldDesk can be used as a complimentary solution.

Current VDI systems provide a good solution for CIOs looking to manage complex PC environments but short change the end-user who gets served up an impersonal, vanilla desktop. This is a one of the disadvantages of VDI - workers are simply more comfortable and productive when using their own applications (e.g. Chrome, Evernote, Skype, plug-ins etc.) which are rarely part of the official corporate desktop.

By adding the WorldDesk container to a VDI solution, you can have the best of both worlds; CIOs maintain full control and management of the core system, while users have a fully separate workspace that they can personalise with their own applications and settings.

To find out more about delivering user-installed applications on VDI using WorldDesk you can read our Vision Paper here.

WORLDDESK ON USB

A simple illustration of our technology can be shown by running WorldDesk for You on a USB drive. All you have to do is add WorldDesk to any USB device and plug it into any machine to bring up your fully personalised desktop. WorldDesk essentially makes flagship applications plug and play.

With Windows 8, Microsoft have introduced their own portable desktop that can be carried around on a USB but this is only available to Enterprise customers. At WorldDesk we want to give everyone a chance to have their own portable desktop and that's why WorldDesk for You is free to download right now!

WORLDDESK IN THE CLOUD

More and more people are making the move from traditional USB hard drives to cloud storage. As the WorldDesk container is completely separate from any operating system or hardware, you can pick the method of how you want it to be delivered. This includes cloud delivery - we already have versions of WorldDesk running in popular providers like Dropbox and Box.

Most cloud storage solutions ensure your files are in sync over multiple machines. By adding WorldDesk to your cloud account, your applications and profile settings are also synced across all machines.

This also has benefits for PC recovery. With WorldDesk setting up a new computer is as simple as re-downloading your cloud storage account.

- Jonathan Chesney (Director of Product Management)

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Windows 8 Is Here But Will Enterprises Use It?

I wouldn't say I was excited about the release of Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system but admit to being more curious than I'd ever been for a Windows update. Curious because this arguably marked the most dramatic modern-day change of the longstanding Windows platform. That aside, in this age of overhyped product launches (the prime example being Apple's incremental improvements for the iPhone 4s) there really wasn't much buzz around Windows 8 when it hit the shelves. Maybe because it's been so long in the pipeline (it was first shown at CES in January 2011!) maybe because Microsoft just don't know how to do hype.

Significantly for the team at WorldDesk, this was the first new Windows OS we'd potentially need to support on our WorldDesk for Enterprise platform. WorldDesk has been specifically designed so that the core technology can be developed to run on any operating system and porting a working demo to WIndows 8 was a relatively simple process. A short video of our WIndows 8 demo is below:

After showing that WorldDesk can run on Windows 8, the next question was will there be any demand from our enterprise customers to support it? This is a bit of a crystal ball exercise but looking at the bigger changes in Windows 8, there are some significant challenges for enterprise adoption.

The first thing I noticed was that Windows 8 is designed to host two parallel application environments - one tailored for a traditional desktop, the other optimised for touch gestures on tablets. Our WorldDesk demo ran as an application in desktop mode (the environment it was primarily designed for) but what happens with applications (browsers, readers etc.) that are used on both desktop and mobile devices? Interestingly, this conflict was flagged up by Microsoft Cofounder Paul Allen on his blog reviewing Windows 8:

"Files can be opened in either of the two available modes. For example, after opening a PDF attachment in Outlook from the desktop, Windows opens the file in Microsoft Reader, an application more suited for use on a tablet, rather than the desktop Acrobat Reader. A manual switch is then required to return to desktop mode".

It's a bold, ambitious approach by Microsoft - one OS, multiple device types, but the reality is a bit more muddled: one OS, with multiple versions of the same app, for multiple device types. This problem might be ironed out once application developers cater specifically for the two-pronged approach of Windows 8.

Perhaps the highest hurdle for enterprise adoption is the overhaul in the UI for Windows 8. With a casual glance at Windows XP, Vista and 7 you'd probably be hard pushed to tell which is which. This is not the case with Windows 8 and it's new "metro" layout. For those of us who enjoy a new adventure the layout won't be a problem but I suspect the silent majority will not be particularly excited about learning how to navigate around a new interface. A useful comparison would be when Office 2007 introduced the "ribbon" UI which really divided opinion and probably extended the shelf life of Office 2003.

The early signs aren't encouraging for Microsoft. David Johnson, an analyst for Forrestor reported (see below table) that Windows 8 has received approximately half the interest (24%) of what Windows 7 received (49%) at the same point in it's sales cycle.

On the consumer side, sales of Windows 8 PCs are well below Microsoft’s internal projections and adoption of the new OS is under-performing compared to it's predecessor. This is arguably what is most concerning for Microsoft as Windows 8 is their strongest consumer play to date. There is no doubt that tablet devices are being pushed out into the work force but for most they are still a complimentary technology. I'm confident this will change but currently the infrastructure is just not there for a tablet only worker. I know workers who only have computers, I know workers who have both computers and tablets, I don't know any workers with just tablets.

Technology is a fast-moving arena and Microsoft should be credited for introducing their brave new vision for Windows. However, my guess is most enterprises will bide their time and wait a few years before deciding if Windows 8 is for them.

- Jonathan Chesney (Director of Product Management)

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Imagine This: User Installed Apps In VDI

Citrix XenDesktop and VMware View are Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions that are finally maturing - delivering on the promise of cost-effective management for complex PC environments. As such, CIO’s are now looking at VDI as a real and effective business decision not just as a technology decision.

In brief, VDI delivers Hosted Virtual Desktops (HVDs) from the data center which are made available to end-users via “pools” (a group of virtual machines that are derived from the same base image) of virtual machines. Virtual machines can be created within a virtual machine pool. One of the advantages of pools is that they allow rapid provisioning of new HVDs and provide a logical grouping for access control. Additionally, administrators can specify configuration settings based upon pool membership. There are two types of pools – persistent and non-persistent.

VDI may be a fantastic solution for the CIO and IT department but it is less so for the actual user who gets served up an entirely vanilla desktop; with little or no ability to manage or personalize their workspace (especially in the non-persistent world). Twelve years after Microsoft allowed users to set their own desktop wallpapers this seems like a step back for computing user experience!

The ability to personalize and customize is absolutely fundamental to today’s user of technology. From the cell phone to the PC, people want, and expect to be able install their apps of choice and give the device their own look and feel. This is not just a question of having a picture of the kids on their desktop; users are simply more comfortable and productive with their own apps (e.g. Chrome, Evernote, Skype, banking plug-ins, etc.). These apps are rarely part of the official corporate desktop, but most users would feel lost without them at home and work.

Not unsurprisingly users are finding their own solutions to the “problem” and today it’s typical to spot one or more personal devices sitting on a users desk – forcing enterprises to give real thought to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies.

So, what if the workspace (the user’s apps, data and profile) could be made portable and easily moved between devices – both physical and virtual? At WorldDesk we do exactly that, by moving the workspace into the WorldDesk Container. You can find out more about this WorldDesk solution by reading our vision paper here.

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Resolving App Conflicts in a Virtual World

If server-hosted Desktop Virtualization vendors like VMWare, Citrix, and Microsoft are to the east; and by comparison client-hosted Desktop Virtualization vendors like Moka5, Virtual Computers, and Wanova are to the west; then the WorldDesk for Enterprise (WDFE) platform is in the center delivering the best of both worlds seamlessly with a true and highly balanced Desktop Virtualization (DV) solution.

By no means is Desktop Virtualization the silver bullet to end all of your traditional desktop limitations, but rather an enabler to drive down business cost and complexity in managing and deploying applications throughout organizations. In this context, we’ll take a look at how application conflicts and/or applications that rely on device drivers are handled in a virtual world.

Application and/or device driver conflicts are certainly not new; they have been there since the beginning of desktop computing. In this paper we will introduce high-level Desktop Virtualization concepts and technologies in order to build the story, the objective and focus remains on how issues related to application conflicts and device drivers are resolved in these technologies, as well as understanding the pros and cons of each solution.

Read the complete story in the white paper, here.

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WorldDesk Extends Citrix/VMWare VDI Platforms

Desktop virtualization refers to technologies that separate the monolithic personal computer desktop environment. This environment comprising of hardware, operating system, applications, data, and personal settings. Currently, there are two primary approaches to desktop virtualization, server-side and client-side, respectively.

Adoption to server-side desktop virtualization, which is also referred to as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), has been slow due to its installation complexity and exorbitant system integration costs in addition to other growing concerns over scalability, performance, and anytime (offline) access.

On the other hand WorldDesk employs client-side desktop virtualization technology to offer an optimized and high performance dynamic virtual desktop by combining the best of centralized IT management and client computing together to deliver truly anywhere, anytime personalized desktop execution on any device resulting in significant cost savings and uncompromised user experience.

In addition WorldDesk can be leveraged to complement VDI deployments to address the inherent limitations such as performance, desktop image management, scalability and offline computing.

Read the complete story in the white paper, here.

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*My* WorldDesk Setup (by Amruth Kumar Sala)

In the first post of the 'My WorldDesk Setup' series we looked at how WorldDesk for You (WDFY) is used as a fully mobile, personal computing environment. For this blog I want to share a WorldDesk for Enterprise (WDFE) deployment which helped ease the problems of the students and faculty at the G.Pulla Reddy Engineering College (GPREC) here in India.

The undergraduate students studying at GPREC rely heavily on computers to complete their work but frequently applications fail on specific machines. When this occurs, students would have to contact IT support staff who would typically “solve” this problem by reinstalling the applications afresh. Given staffing and timing constraints this can result in up to a day's worth of work being lost by a student. It was clear that the staff and students of GPREC would benefit greatly from a WDFE setup.

The rollout procedure was as follows:

Server Side:

Firstly, I made use of GPREC’s existing Microsoft Windows 2008 Active Directory Controller, which had all the student’s accounts. Recorded Time: 0 minutes.

Then I checked, and were necessary installed, the software prerequisites for "WorldDesk for Enterprise" before installing the WDFE package. Recorded Time:  30 minutes.

Using the WorldDesk Management Console I created a template for a Microsoft Windows 7 Client. As part of this process I specified the required policies and permissions for this template. Recorded Time:  Recorded Time: 5 minutes.

To finish the server side setup I created Desktops for 25 sample users on the WorldDesk Management Console. Recorded Time: 5 minutes.

Client Side:

After logging into a pristine machine with WorldDesk Portal Administrator, I accessed the template that was earlier created on the server and installed the Microsoft Office 2007 Suite. Recorded Time:  15 minutes.

Finally, as a quick test I logged into the machine as one of the sample users from the active directory and invoked their personalized WorldDesk Desktop. Recorded Time:  15 Seconds.

--o--

The full procedure of installation, configuration and deployment took less than 2 hours to complete for 25 users, though using WorldDesk template technology I could add additional users quickly with ease.

With no dependency on the client machine for application installation natively, it is now very easy for the IT support staff to maintain all the machines in network and quickly respond to student problems.

With WorldDesk for Enterprise all the client machines in lab now only require an operating system. Students are served their state-full personalised desktop from a centralized server which is all managed via a web based Management Console and accessible by the entire IT support team.

That is, My WorldDesk Setup.

- Amruth Kumar Sala (Director of Operations)

--o--

Some small print…

Server Configuration Details:

HP ProLiant ML 350G6 / (1) Intel® Xeon® Processor E5620 (2.40 GHz, 12MB L3 Cache, 80W, DDR3-1066, HT enabled / 8GB (4 x 2GB) PC3-10600R (DDR3-1333) / Embedded NC326i PCI Express Dual Port Gigabit Server Adapter / Embedded HP Smart Array P410i/256MB Controller / 300 GB SAS HDD

Client Configuration Details:

Dell branded desktops with Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93 GHz processor / 2 GB RAM and 320 GB SATA HDD

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For The Last Time…We’re Not VDI!

VDI

ˈvərCHo͞oəl / ˈdeskˌtäp / ˈinfrəˌstrəkCHər

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is the practice of hosting a desktop operating system within a virtual machine (VM) running on a centralized server. VDI is a variation on the client/server computing model, sometimes referred to as server-based computing (SBC).

--o--

Whenever I tell people about WorldDesk I often get asked “how is this any different to VDI?” The question has come up so frequently I thought it best to compile a brief blog on the key differences…

Let’s first look at the architecture of a standard computer. This broadly consists of three components: your hardware (the physical machine itself) the operating system (typically Windows) and everything you add to your computer (we call this your Workspace – it’s the apps you install, the files you save and your personal settings).

The overview looks a little like this:

In this standard computer model the apps and settings are intrinsically linked to the operating system, which itself is intrinsically linked to the hardware. As a result, only the files are portable.

A VDI solution aims to free up the entire machine by allowing a user to have access from multiple computers (end-clients) using an internet connection. Each user’s Workspace (apps, files, settings) is tied to a specific virtual machine (VM) on the server and a graphical representation of this is delivered to the end-client. This is made possible by a program, known as a Hypervisor or Virtual Machine Manager, which allows multiple operating systems to share the same hardware host.

The diagram for the VDI server is as below:

The VDI model takes up a significant amount of server space as each VM requires its own operating system and the applications are tied to this OS like they are on a standard computer.

--o--

What Makes WorldDesk Different?

WorldDesk provides a home for your apps, files and settings in a self-contained virtual environment. This is a separate environment that is not attached to any particular piece of hardware or operating system.

The graphic for the WorldDesk Workspace (to try a version of this download WorldDesk for You) is as below:

As WorldDesk is solely made up of data, that we know to be fully portable, the entire Workspace can be directly delivered to all end-clients from a centralized server. The server is only used for data storage and the server operating system is only used for profile management. Unlike VDI, no processing is done on the server side.

Below is a diagram of the WorldDesk Workspace being delivered from a server to a client:

This is the core setup of WorldDesk for Enterprise (WDFE) and it has a number of important advantages over a standard VDI solution:

As the entire Workspace is delivered, all the processing is done on the end-client. This is the most efficient use of the client operating system and machine resources (CPU & RAM). Unlike a VDI solution, this allows for processor-intensive applications, like AutoCAD and Photoshop, to be used by any computer on the network.

WDFE also increases efficiency on the server. As WorldDesk utilizes the client operating system, there is no need to store multiple OSs on the server. This means WorldDesk takes up a lot less space on the server. In addition, each user’s profile is derived from an application template meaning only one copy of each application is installed on the server. This again is a highly efficient use of a server’s resources.

In our next blog we’ll take a look at how this model was applied in enterprise and the advantages it brought.

- Jonathan Chesney (Director of Product Management)

[myworlddesk-blog]

Demo or Die

It’s been a busy start to the year for WorldDesk. We launched our first downloadable product in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, showed WorldDesk running on a non-Windows OS in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress and part of our team have just returned from South by Southwest (SXSW) in Texas where we gave an early peek of our new 64-bit release.

SXSW is a unique conference that combines original music, independent films and emerging technologies. This made for a diverse week socializing, (I should call this networking since I was there for work!) attending events and panel discussions.

One such panel was delivered by students from the MIT Media Lab. This was not a group I was overly familiar with but part of the charm of SXSW is that curiosity is both encouraged and rewarded. The MIT Media Lab is made-up of self-described outliers: academics that, despite their brilliance, don’t seem to naturally fit into any other faculty at MIT. Unconstrained by traditional assessment boundaries, this group of designers, engineers, artists and scientists work on specific projects that they believe might provide a technological breakthrough to impact on everyday life.

While each panelist in turn outlined details of their own, individual project, it was telling that they all, without fail, referenced what is the unofficial Mantra of the Media Labs: Demo or Die. No matter how brilliant, no matter how innovative, each project would be judged on the ability to bring it to demo.

The belief that building a demo was the only real way to validate a particular idea is something that is instilled with the team at WorldDesk. There are two distinct parts of any demo: build and show. For any project we’ve undertaken it starts of with that first build of the demo. Version 1 is mostly a mishmash of different third-party apps that are easily and immediately available. This “home brew” lacks any of the gleam of a final product but, most importantly, validates the core idea. WorldDesk for You  (that ran with the internal demo name Project Kickstarter) began life like this. It had none of the polish of our beta product (simple installation package, WorldDesk branding, automation, Dropbox integration etc.) but it made the crucial jump from “I can” to “I have”.

Of course there is no point in having a great demo (which I believe we have!) unless you get out there and show it to someone! The day after the MIT Panel I had a chance to put part of this theory into practice. Through a competitive application process WorldDesk was selected, as one of only twenty companies, to take part in the UK Demo day. This was an official SXSW event hosted by UK Trade & Investment and Thomson Reuters. After three hours of non-stop presenting to capital providers, media, industry contacts and potential clients, I left with a little better understanding on how best to communicate the WorldDesk offering. Practice does make perfect.

And that completes one demo cycle but is only one cycle. We’re already building our next demo, which we hope to be able to show you soon, because like all MIT Media Lab students we too have a motto: Demo or die.

- Jonathan Chesney (Director of Product Management)

[myworlddesk-blog]

*My* WorldDesk Setup (by Stevie Morrow)

We thought we'd kick off a series of blogs called My WorldDesk Setup, just to share how we're using WorldDesk every day and the tips 'n tricks we're finding along the way! My primary machine is a Samsung Ultrabook, it's well spec'd, solidly built and very light. At home I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop that is poorly spec'd, pretty flimsy and weighs slightly more than a desktop!  I also regularly use a couple of HP Pavilion laptops we have setup in meeting rooms for presentations.

80% of the time I’m on the Samsung but my use of these other machines is increasing and while the HPs are in our office I do consider them “unsecure”.   So WorldDesk is ideal in letting me move my whole workspace easily between these devices.  I opt for the USB deployment for 2 reasons:

It’s ultra-portable and pocket-sized, compared to an external hard drive.

While I do use Dropbox (a lot!) I don’t want to setup my Dropbox account on the unsecure HPs.

So, I picked up a Kingston DT Ultimate G2 16GB USB drive, which is robust and very fast (supporting USB 3.0 and backward compatible with USB 2.0). 

Security and backup is a major concern (what happens if I lost that USB drive!) so before I begin I grab three very useful and free utilities:

1. TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt – lets me create a very secure military grade encrypted partition on my USB drive.  I use 12Gb of the available 16Gb, leaving 4Gb free as an unencrypted space to easily share files, etc.  I also carry TrueCrypt’s Traveller Disk Setup in this unencrypted space so I don’t need to install TrueCrypt on all the machines I’m going to use my WorldDesk on.

2. SyncToy

A very simple app for backing up my entire WorldDesk from the USB drive to my main machine (the Samsung). 

3. USB Disk Ejector – Not really required, but a handy tool to quickly and safely eject the USB drive when I want to unplug it.  While generally I agree that life’s too short to remove USB safely it is a pretty good idea when the drive is NTFS formatted.

I only have these apps installed on my primary machine; in fact it’s all I have installed on that machine, and of course I don’t need to worry about installing them on any other machine I use.

So now I’m good to go, I grabbed the latest version of WorldDesk (at time of writing this is a pre-release version for Win-7 64-bit) and installed it in the encrypted partition on the USB drive.

The first set of apps I usually install are:

 Dropbox

 MS Office 2010

 Foxit Reader

VLC Media Player

Rainmeter

Note, installing Dropbox inside WorldDesk is a massive plus for me, as my Dropbox folder is now portable, secure and anything I work on I can view on the go with my iPad/iPhone.

The last one, Rainmeter, is a cool desktop customization tool that plays nice with WorldDesk and adds a host of useful “skins” to my desktop. 

It transforms my desktop from this:

… to this:

So that’s my WorldDesk: safe, secure, portable and looks pretty cool too!  What’s yours?

- Stevie Morrow (COO)

[myworlddesk-blog]

The Holy Grail: Insert coin, avoid Klingons...

My last blog post introduced the engineering objective when we founded WorldDesk: 

"Quite simply, the initial design goal for WorldDesk was to make recovering or setting up a PC as simple as connecting a replacement iPhone to iTunes and re-syncing the setup."

I've long been a believer that engineering excellence sees complexity under the hood reduced to simplicity for the user. Steve Jobs based the design philosophy of Apple on the simplicity he learned at Atari, where the user manual simply read "Insert coin, avoid Klingons". Job's infatuation with ease of use reflects that of the great consumer companies through the ages, the principle was pervasive in the early days of the Ford Motor Company between 1905 and 1930, and the Singer Sewing Machine company in the 1850s. Historians remind us that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to human society; in this respect zealous pursuit of usability was core to the greatest consumer companies through the ages. 

One view is that Microsoft's PC both embodies this rule and violates it. 

On the one hand the Windows user interface and experience was truly revolutionary and very reminiscent of the "Jobs" approach. Similarly based Office applications like Excel are utility personified, have defined a raft of business use cases for two decades, and will most likely continue to do so for the next thirty years. 

That said Windows has some real baggage. Installation of applications is a nightmare (in relative terms) - relative both to other platforms today, and also how things used to be. It is nigh on impossible to migrate setups between different physical machines, and a drama just to migrate applications and setups between different OS releases. 

The Enterprise IT costs associated with large Microsoft infrastructure runs into hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Whole industries (including the virtualisation business) have sprung up in response to basic design flaws in the underlying Windows solution. The limitations in the platform are becoming ever more acute with the accelerating move towards portability and mobility. 

In this context, we believe we're close to delivering the Holy Grail with the Dropbox beta. Our design goal was to deliver a solution as simple as iTunes. If anything, it is simpler. A users entire WorldDesk workspace is replicated automatically to any machine where the user has a Dropbox folder. Once the workspace is stored to Dropbox it can be replicated across dozens of end devices if need be, and Dropbox's underlying file syncing keeps them all on the same page. 

So, why do I think we're close to delivering the Holy Grail?

The actual Holy Grail would involve having a common (& shared) applications folder for all the users in an enterprise. This shared team folder in Dropbox would effectively provide a standard WorldDesk and Microsoft install to a new team member, simply by inviting them into the team. Not only will the full install take no effort whatsoever from the user or admin; everyone in the team will be using exactly the same version of all applications, updates, with only a naked OS installed on any physical device. 

Insert coin, avoid Klingons...

- Rao Cherukuri (CEO)

[myworlddesk-blog]

WorldDesk Inception: Technical purity, mobility, spurred by frustration

The first question technical people ask when they meet with WorldDesk is typically this: “What on earth motivated you to take on the arduous task of decoupling Windows workspace from the underlying machine in the first place?” (Most also highlight that they don’t believe it is possible, even after seeing the demo!)

The answer is a combination of purity, i.e. that this is how Windows should have been implemented in the first place, how things worked back in the 1970s in the pre-Windows world, and how newer generation platforms work today. Equally important, the old way of doing things never had the flexibility users require leading to massive inertia and frustration. Five years ago it was clear that mobility would be the defining movement in computing in the coming decades. Solving the “decoupling” challenge would have massive implications for flexibility and mobility.

Some background on me: I started as a PC guy, worked on 386/486 based system designs in my very first job after traveling from Hyderabad to Silicon Valley in the early 1990s. I love technology and it would be an understatement to say I’m passionate about technology and computing architecture – I went on to found one NASDAQ-listed company and two others that were privately acquired.

The WorldDesk vision stems from my love-hate relationship with the PC. The PC was (and remains) the top productivity tool known to man. However it comes with a lot of baggage, the “usual problems”. For example, recovering data, settings and application and migrating them to new hardware is an almighty pain in the neck!

Like many of you, each time my old PC wasn’t usable or about to be retired, it took countless hours to recover the data, reinstall the apps and try to recover as much as possible to replicate the old environment. But I assure you, it was never the same, so I had to live with it, the best I could do. My wife still complains about all those obsolete hard disks and ancient floppy drives that are still clogging up the garage.  

As an engineer it was clear that all of this frustration could be avoided and things could be much simpler. As a business person it was equally clear that the economic impact in terms of flexibility, mobility and ease of migration could run into tens of billions. Quite simply, the initial design goal for WorldDesk was to make recovering or setting up a PC as simple as connecting a replacement iPhone to iTunes and re-syncing the setup.

People do care for their personal WORLD, by which I mean all their data, applications and configurations. This world is better controlled by the user and not by devices and operating systems. Though I was a frustrated PC user for many years, this simple thinking got me on to what I am doing now, at my current venture, what we deliver is "Take Your World With You".

- Rao Cherukuri (CEO)

  WorldDesk from Frankideaworks on Vimeo.