‍Breaking Up with RDS is Not So Hard to Do

Are you an ISV or MSP using Microsoft® Remote Desktop Services (RDS) to deliver Windows® applications to users? Are you tired of RDS’ cost and complexity? Are you looking for an alternative to RDS?  In this post, we’ll review alternatives to RDS and the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Option One – Rewriting Your Windows Application

In this scenario, you’re rewriting your Windows application as a web-native app that you can deliver from any cloud using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Web-native apps have a modern look-and-feel that Windows apps lack, which can be exciting prospect for a Windows ISV. Additionally, rewriting your app gives you an opportunity to make profound and fundamental changes to workflow, dependencies, even app features, to address any ongoing user issues.

But—rewriting your Windows application as a web-native app means that you’re starting from scratch. Writing web-native apps requires a skillset your Windows development team probably doesn’t have, so you’ll have to either retrain you current team or hire a new one. You’ll have to select a new technology stack, including a new programming language, frameworks, libraries, and tools for development. You’ll have to design the new app’s architecture, user interface structure, data management, and app component interaction.

Every feature, function, and dependency in your Windows application will have to be reimagined and rewritten. You’ll also need to design a new user interface, which requires another all-new skillset, and then built the web app’s front end. Even scarier, you’ll need to migrate the current Windows app’s data to the new web app, which involves converting data formats or database schemas. Scarier still, you’ll need to build the server-side components, including APIs and web services, to support the functionality of the web application, and implement data storage, server logic, and authentication.

Once the web app is built, you’ve still got to complete testing, QA, implement security measures, app optimization, documentation, and user training. Finally, you’ll need to roll out the new app and persuade users to adopt the new app so you can retire the Windows application. Oh, and while your team is building the web app, you’ll need to continue to update and support the Windows application until you can retire it.

Seems like a lot of effort and expense if what you really want to do is stop using RDS.

Option Two – Adopt a Different Remote Access Solution

In this option, your app stays as it is (insert sigh of relief) but your approach to app delivery changes from using RDS to using another remote access solution.

You have several options, including:

• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
• Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
• Application Virtualization
• Application Publishing

{{CTAEMBED_IDENTIFIER}}

‍Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

VDI simulates an end user desktop environment that’s accessed from an end user device via a network or the internet. The desktop runs on virtualization software running on a hypervisor that runs on a physical server or on a virtual server that’s installed and runs on a physical machine.

Examples of VDI products include VMware Horizon® and Citrix® Virtual Apps and Desktops (if you’re delivering your application from an on-premises data center). VDI is great for companies who want to control and securely deliver multiple applications on a managed desktop to their employees. But, for an ISV or MSP,  VDI includes many features and functions not necessary for delivering one or two applications to customers. And, like RDS, VDI is complex, expensive, and challenging to manage—in fact, Citrix’ underlying core technology is RDS.

Additionally, both Citrix and VMware® have been acquired and gone through significant changes that may not be in the best interest of ISVs and MSPs. Citrix recently signed a new agreement with Microsoft that’s leading to an integrated product roadmap, including a mandate to use only Azure® for cloud implementations. Given this agreement, ISVs and MSPs that adopt Citrix and want to keep their cloud options open will be compelled at some point to move to Azure.

VMware was acquired by Broadcom, which promptly spun off and sold the VMware EUC division to KKR[NV1]  without resolving a critical licensing arrangement that includes a vSphere Desktop license with Horizon at no extra charge to the customer. ISVs and MSPs may want to wait for the dust to settle (which could take months or years) before opting for Horizon as their remote access solution.

Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) also fits into this category, enabling IT to deliver a desktop to a user that’s actually running on a server. However, Parallels runs on RDS, rendering it useless for ISVs and MSPs that want an alternative to RDS.

Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

DaaS is VDI delivered as a service. Citrix offers Citrix DaaS (essentially Citrix® Virtual Apps and Desktops delivered as a service) and VMware offers Horizon delivered as DaaS. Parallels has a DaaS product, too.

While utilizing DaaS means that ISVs and MSPs avoid the challenges related to building and managing a VDI infrastructure, it also means that those ISVs and MSPs are paying for the cost for the service plus many user management features included that they just don’t need (one ISV I recently talked to estimated that they used only 20% of the available Citrix features in their implementation).

Application Virtualization

Application virtualization uses virtualization technology to deliver applications rather than desktops. Like VDI, it uses a hypervisor to create a virtual machine that runs applications that users can access remotely, which may slightly reduce solution complexity versus an implementation of VDI.

Organizations use application virtualization primarily to make an application available to specific users within an organization, or to enable users to run an application on an operating system that’s different than the user’s machine’s operating system.

Citrix Apps and Desktops fits in this category, but can only be licensed to customers running their infrastructure on-premises. Horizon can also be used to virtualize applications, but it’s as complex to do so as it is to virtualize a desktop. And, as mentioned above, both companies are experiencing changes brought about by being acquired that raise a red flag for ISVs and MSPs.

One service, Amazon® AppStream® 2.0 for Windows, is a cloud-based Windows application virtualization service which can be configured for application streaming. However, AppStream uses RDS, which requires customers to purchase Microsoft end user licenses in addition to Windows and AppStream licenses.

Microsoft App-V is another application virtualization solution, primarily used to allow users to run legacy Windows apps on modern machines. App-V is included in Windows 10 for Enterprise (version 1607) but requires that customers buy end user licenses for every named user, which significantly increases implementation cost. More importantly, App-V will end-of-life in April 2026.

Application Publishing

Published applications are virtual software programs that look and act like local applications but are actually running on a server. ISVs and MSPs can set up published application access on the user’s device so that the user accesses and launches a published application the same way that they would a local application. In many cases, the user can’t tell the difference between a published application and an application installed on the end user’s device.

Application publishing solutions include RDS and VMware Horizon Apps, which leverages Microsoft Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) servers and RDS to deliver published applications. Neither is an option for ISVs and MSPs that want an RDS alternative.

There is one application publishing solution that does not utilize RDS—GO-Global®, which provides multi-user access to Windows applications from any location, device, and operating system. GO-Global fully replaces RDS functionality, including multi-session kernel, Remote Desktop clients, display driver, protocol, internet gateway and management tools, eliminating Windows and user licensing costs.

Because GO-Global does not use RDS, applications published using GO-Global require less IT implementation and management effort, scale more economically, and provide users with a web-native experience on any device with a browser. Browser-based user access does not require installation of a client on a user’s device, making it easier to enable and support users with non-Windows devices.

You can break up with RDS! For ISVs and MSPs that want to publish Windows applications easily, quickly, and inexpensively, without Windows and RDS, consider GO-Global.

To learn more about GO-Global’s application publishing solution, request a demo here or download a free 30-day trial.

‍