Comments on: Virtualization homes in on desktops

Software makers are eyeing more ways the one-computer-as-many approach can help businesses and beyond.

[smithrl]

RDP audio support

RDP has supported audio for quite some time. It was introduced in RDP 5.1 which was released with Windows XP.

[ITrogue]

yah yah

and two years ago the next big thing was desktop search. I have google desktop on this machine and I never use it. The thumbnail option is just as convenient. How many regular home users actually need virtulization? Not many.

[DamonHank]

Other alternatives

What about the n-computing solution. Their product enables up to 30 terminals to be hosted from a singlr PC.

[bluvg]

RDP correction

Someone already noted that RDP *does* support audio, and has for some time. It also supports a great deal more, including clipboard mapping, printer redirection, drive redirection, and even desktop composition (in 6.0). If your machine supports it--not the host, but the machine from which you're connecting--you can get the full Vista Aero experience via RDP, including Flip3D and the other video effects. The effects are rendered locally, so the performance is actually very good.

What doesn't work so well through RDP is video streaming, or anything with quick video refreshing. This is not impossible to do--it is done already with Media Center and Media Center Extenders--but it is not yet supported in RDP.