Windows 7 On an iPad? Yes You Can By David Coursey
January 29, 2010 12:14 PM
Want to run Windows 7 on the new Apple iPad? Citrix says it will soon be possible--at least virtually--using a new version of its Citrix Receiver software.
Promised to be ready when the tablet computer ships in March, Citrix says the new software, based on the current iPhone version, is a response to questions about how the iPad might find a home in the enterprise.
"If your company has XenDesktop or XenApp you will be happy to know you will be able to use your iPad for real work as well," wrote Citrix Vice President Chris Fleck in a company blog.
From: Aurora [#3] 4 Feb 18:12 To: leonsk [#2] 4 Feb 18:31
My point exactly. Why would someone take an Apple operating system which is already one to the best and cripple your $500 to $900 iPad with any Microsoft OS.
It's like crossing a human with a pig just "because we can".
From: NateHoy [#4] 4 Feb 20:51 To: Aurora [#3] 5 Feb 8:37
It's not crippling it at all - there's no replacement of the OS going on, it's just making it a remote login to a more serious machine.
But VNC works pretty darned well, too, and there are plenty of free VNC clients for the iPod Touch which should port over to the iPad quite nicely for those "I want to do some casual work and I don't need a full keyboard and mouse" afternoons.
Sometimes I forget about the Power User. But if I need a Windows license to be legal on the iPad it makes no sense for casual use.
Citrix Reciever is basically an expensive, crappy version of VNC for Windows or Windows Remote Desktop. The only software that runs on the iPad is Citrix's Reciever client. You do not need a Windows license to run it on the iPad as you are not running Windows on the iPad. That program connects to a Citrix XenApp server (the host Windows machine) for the remote session. All Citrix had to do is port the Reciever client to the iPad. That shouldn't be tough as they have the program ported to x86/amd64 Windows, OS X, and x86/armel Linux.
I have the dubious pleasure of having to use this setup at work on a daily basis to access an inferior EMR application running on an overloaded server over a slow and laggy wireless connection. Citrix's program is poor. They do have x86 and armel Linux clients that will sort of run after a large amount of dicking around manually installing some libraries that are three years behind current and manually installing SSL certificate files. I couldn't really understand why somebody would want to run a remote desktop session on a machine with a tiny screen and no keyboard, but I guess that won't stop Citrix from trying to find a way to get more checkboxes in their XenApp marketing brochures.
On a side note, I can't believe that Apple picked the term "iPad" for this device. It sounds like something Kotex would have made- "Women- no more struggling with picking the right pad for the day! The new iPad with variable absorbency works for both the heavy days and the light ones!" (cut to happy music and smiling women running around sunny grass-covered hills).
On a side note, I can't believe that Apple picked the term "iPad" for this device. It sounds like something Kotex would have made- "Women- no more struggling with picking the right pad for the day! The new iPad with variable absorbency works for both the heavy days and the light ones!" (cut to happy music and smiling women running around sunny grass-covered hills).
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Just guessing and I have nothing to back it up, but it may have been because of the PADD (Personal Access Display Device) in Star Trek. A device to which the iPad bears a striking resemblance:
