Windows 7 On An iPad?
So you say that you want an Apple iPad, but you want it to run Windows? Well, you’re in luck! Citrix is doing just that.
Sort of.
Using the Citrix Receiver for iPhone, combined with the use of XenDesktop or XenApp, you can basically turn your iPad into a Windows 7 thin client just like you can with the iPhone. This allows you to run, from your iPad, the user interface to a virtual Windows 7 box running on hardware elsewhere.
Of course, why you would want to is another question.
Because, let’s face it, as I said before, the iPad by no means has the power to run any real software applications.
K. Brian Kelley:
But that’s the point. The Citrix Xen App presentation server is actually running the software application. So it’s the best of both worlds if you’re an Apple fan-boy.
February 4, 2010, 4:14 pmArah:
Well yeah, so long as you already have a server. Or mind buying two “computers” to do the job of one. (Well, or in this case one computer and one iPad.)
And in either case, any computer, portable or otherwise, would do as a thin client then. It doesn’t have to be an iPad. In fact, it’s easier if it isn’t an iPad, especially if it’s a netbook that has the drivers for a nice Linux distro.
Kind of like all of those Windows fans loading Microsoft onto their iMacs. It’s not exactly the ideal way to run Windows, but clearly, there’s a need, even amongst the most Appley of Apples. And as needs arise, so do solutions. Even if it’d make more sense sometimes just to skip the Apple branding all together.
Of course if Apple were to just start selling their shiny MacOS to run on any PC, we’d see them finally have enough of a market share that applications developers would start supporting the Mac in earnest as it would finally be financially viable, and then Apple fans would really have something to be happy about. But that’s a tale for another day…
February 5, 2010, 12:05 pm