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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Unidesk (Discontinued)

    Score5.7 out of 10
    N/AUnidesk was a virtual desktop technology from the Massachusetts company of the same name, and acquired by Citrix. It has reached End of Life (EOL).N/A

    VMware Fusion

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/AVmware Fusion is a virtual user session software built to run Windows applications on Macintosh to run any Windows applications.N/A
    Pricing
    Unidesk (Discontinued)VMware Fusion
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Unidesk (Discontinued)VMware Fusion
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Best Alternatives
    Unidesk (Discontinued)VMware Fusion
    Small Businesses
    VMware Fusion
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Parallels RAS
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    VMware Fusion
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Parallels RAS
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    VMware Workstation Player
    Score9.9 out of 10
    VMware Workstation Player
    Score9.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Unidesk (Discontinued)VMware Fusion
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.1
    (7 ratings)
    8.0
    (20 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Unidesk (Discontinued)VMware Fusion
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    Right now, I would advise it to anybody who has 1,500 or fewer users they wish to provide desktops for. I would advise to go with persistent desktops or use a UEM solution like AppSense or RES Workspace Manager when trying the non-persistent desktops. I would suggest that using an AppVirt product like App-V with Unidesk still makes a lot of sense as you can use Shared Content Store Mode and sequence once for many. AppVirt solutions still have value with isolation. I would suggest looking at Turbo browsers for their redirect feature to an sandboxed browser running legacy IE or a browser with Java or Flash (to eliminate security threats related to these running locally on the system). Also, I would suggest looking at Atlantis for deduplicating those desktops and allow them to perform quicker with less storage required. Unidesk by itself is awesome. It really simplifies things. Throw it together with other products and each compliments the other well. Also, Unidesk makes some of those other products more valuable as you're not completely reliant on them like you would be without Unidesk.
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    VMware by Broadcom
    Due to its perpetual licensing model, VMware Fusion is a great option for users whose needs do not change as much over time. It is also great for occasional-use scenarios such as testing and preparing code to run on newer platforms. Fusion is not really recommended for running graphics-intense applications as graphics acceleration in Fusion is fairly limited in both performance and API support. It has, however, come a very long way and offers near-native performance for many tasks.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • Creating application layers is easy to do. It's just a matter of installing the applications as you would normally do on a computer.
    • Unidesk's technology isn't sandbox like VMware's ThinApp technology so it works much better and is more compatible with other software.
    • The admin console and technology in general is easy to learn for the administrator while it's transparent to the end users.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    • Allows users to run Windows only applications on their Mac without switching devices.
    • Fusion is excellent for Windows image creation, and works exceptionally well on the Mac environment.
    • Assists a Mac user to virtualize Windows apps.
    • Excellent for installing Linux distros for penetration testing.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • Disaster recovery options for the Unidesk solution are not easily accessible or require personalized attention from support.
    • Issues when creating software layers do not always have a obvious fix. Make sure to look for and follow Unidesk's published "recipes."
    • The software/OS layering introduced by Unidesk is not "sanctioned" behavior by Microsoft, and thus you're at the mercy of Unidesk's ability to keep up with widespread changes to operating systems.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    • With OSX - 10.14.1 and the latest version of Fusion - 11.0.2 the user interface has taken a step back IMHO.
    • I would like to see price decrease.
    • Better remote host connection capabilities - remote server connections are available but connections are spotty.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Discontinued Products
    Unidesk has been a solid product for us. We continue to rely on its simplicity and scalability.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    For Apple workstations VMware Fusion is the virtualization software to use. No other application (free or paid) can do what Fusion can. The features and constant updates make Fusion an application that cant be beat.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    I made an 8 because it's good in almost every aspect. As I said if you are on macos and you need both windows and linux I think is the best options out there. Otherwise if you need only windows there is a competitor that could be better for performance and integration.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    I have never contacted VMware, but there is a lot of support online on message boards, forums, StackOverflow, YouTube tutorial videos, and the like. VMware has been around nine years longer than its leading competitor, VirtualBox, although both seem to have a good presence of online user communities who can help solve issues that come up.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    This is a workstation application and no install insights are needed.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    AppVolumes seems to be a lot less mature as a product. It does have some benefits over Unidesk e.g. the fact it doesn't include the OS Layer (image management) side means I can just use it for the app layering piece if I like. I can also deploy my application layers to physical desktops BUT I have had less success compatibility wise with my applications as AppVolumes 'AppStacks'. I believe Unidesk has a better handle on the do's and don'ts, or at least may be a little more honest about them. I also don't enjoy the Console with AppVolumes and while I can use it without the image management or tied into the stack the way Unidesk is...you also lose that image management and need to couple it with another product in some scenarios. FlexApp to me is stronger than AppVolumes. FlexApp is coupled with a profile management solution called ProfileUnity which makes it a more attractive alternative (at least at the time of me posting this). However, I prefer other UEM products at this moment in time. I also value the image management and ease of a single console for all of Virt Desktop management that Unidesk provides.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    I've heard of other/competitive software but frankly once I tried VMware, I never looked back. There is absolutely nothing that I need that this product does not deliver. It's fast, effective and seems to be extremely durable and reliable. My only concern (and minor) might have to do with memory resources, but frankly it has not been an issue yet.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • Storage density with Unidesk (via the use of OS/application layering) is 60-70% improved over standard persistent one-to-one virtual desktops.
    • Unidesk virtual machines can be deployed in under 10 minutes by a lower tier of technician without the need to "touch" the vCenter hypervisor.
    • Reliable performance across Unidesk virtual workstations. Added desktops/layers does not adversely effect performance nearly as bad as older persistent desktops.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    • Users using a VM often don't need something as "fancy" as VMware Fusion, and instead can use a free option like Virtual Box, so we waste money on using an extra amount of VMware Fusion licenses.
    • Developers using and IT admins using VMware Fusion for testing saves us time and money. Simply, we know mistakes would take time and money to fix, but VMware is powerful, allows for proper and fast testing.
    Incentivized
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