Virtualization Magazine on Ulitzer

Citrix got push-back on its newfangled two-week-old VDI+XenApp kit, XenDesktop 4 - which it meant to license only by named users not concurrent users - so Tuesday it materialized a new device-based licensing option, a new VDI Edition for both user/device and CCU licensing and a new campus-wide licensing program for schools.

In a blog XenDesktop VP Sumit Dhawan said that given the response "it also became clear that we missed a few important things on the licensing and packaging front in our initial announcement."

For starters that means that places where multiple users share the same device such as retail kiosks, warehouses, branch banks and labs will pay the same price as a user-based license.

Citrix says users will be able to access their XenDesktop from an unlimited number of devices and devices can be used by an unlimited number of users. A XenDesktop 4 product license can be assigned to either a user or a device. It's all the same and the cost per device is the same as per user.

Citrix found it needed a VDI-only solution, ostensibly for those still just testing the VDI waters although that's not really true, so it's created a new XenDesktop 4, VDI Edition for remote-hosted situations available for $95 per user/device, or $195 per concurrent user (CCU). It will replace the Standard Edition.

It has yet to say what it will charge for the campus-wide license so schools can deliver either the full Windows desktop, or just some applications, including enabling access from smart phones. It's got until November 16, when XenDesktop becomes generally available, to figure out what it calls "extremely compelling prices."