iPad: Be Prepared.
yes. this is a real photo
Yes, this picture is real. Not bogus. That is Windows 7, running on an iPad. Now, if only we could get OS X to run on it. Oh, the irony…but I digress.
But for those people working in IT who have been trying so desperately to convince themselves that they actually NEED an iPad, this may push you over the edge. This screengrab is basically an iPad running an application called the Citrix Receiver which connects to an updated version of Citrix’s XenApp, and into Windows 7. Voila. Multitasking is officially on the iPad–but the irony is so thick here. It’s brought to the iPad only by using Windows on it. How could Steve Jobs think for once that this wouldn’t happen? How could he leave such a gaping hole in functionality on this device that has been specualted about for the past 3+ years by IT pundits and fanboys alike? No matter. It’s left for another blog post elsewhere. The real point here is that this thing might ACTUALLY be usable for IT folks around the world.
In my particular role as a Consultant/Engineer, it’s already been brought up in talks with some of our clients in the Medical field. Doctors LOVE tablets. They love the idea of strolling the halls on rounds being able to literally tap their reports into the system in a ultra-sleek, fully-functinoal, sexy, and paperless fashion. Until now, tablets have always come up short in at least one of those categories. And the thing is, the iPad comes up WAY short as well. (Not in the ‘sexy’ category, mind you, but just in the ‘functional’ one).
Citrix has been developing the XenApp update for the iPad for quite some time now. It’s almost as if they were working WITH Apple to bring forth the functionality; which wouldn’t make a lot of sense on the surface. However, looking further, it’s yet another glimpse of Jobs’ Genius. Apple gets to market its iPad as the iPod Touch’s Steriod-laden big brother, touting ‘simplicity’ all along the way. Meanwhile, they allow the development of a 100% integrated support for Citrix, which then brings a full-fledged SysAdmin weapon to a company’s IT organization–granted there are adequate WiFi support. Doctor’s can now walk down halls touching to their heart’s content, and looking good while doing it. Zoom around the Fisher-Pricey but gorgeous iPad interface one moment, then boot XenApp and slip into a Citrix session running Windows 7 (plus multitasking) the next. Apple has quietly reached the pesky IT demographic for the iPad.
Actually, there is a public report now of a medical facility in Oregon that has already offically begun a rollout of about 5 iPads using the Citrix Receiver to run Windows 7 and NextGen EMR application. Do not forget–the iPad was released less than a month ago.
Citrix has already put the demo video on their website of the Citrix Receiver for iPad. iPad Citrix Receiver
Which speaks volumes–seeing is believing.
As a fanboy who has posted here before about Apple, I had no inital interest in the iPad. I have an iPhone, and this to me was just an expensive toy with functionality that was severely lacking. When asked by my peers not long ago about Citrix’s ability on an iPad, I quickly scoffed at the idea saying it wouldn’t work. Urged to open my own mind about the idea, I did my research. And while I will stand my ground about the iPad’s functionality natively leaving much to be desired, as an IT professional I cannot be short of bouncing in my seat when I see this Citrix capability to run a Windows desktop over WiFi or 3G (hopefully, 4G soon). And with the announcement of iPhone Software v 4.0, which DOES do multitasking and folder support, I can only think that the iPad will get better very soon, allowing us to run Citrix/Windows session WHILE we oh-so-elegantly zip around the sleek native apps on the iPad such as eBook reader, custom You Tube and eBay apps and the like.
The iPad might be in my sights after all. And, it might as well be, since I can easily see this as a tool to be adopted by enterprise organizations everywhere. Be Prepared.
Now, if we can only get Apple to move to Verizon…
