Sync and link As approaches go, it’s almost fiendishly simple, yet still manages to address an issue that Microsoft and Symantec have been struggling with for years: how to effectively maintain virtualized applications that are distributed over the Web. By embedding a simple HTTP-based synchronization engine into each package, ThinApp makes it possible to slipstream updates for even the most far-flung virtualized applications, using nothing more than a lowly Web server as the distribution and control point. For example, the product’s new AppSync feature addresses a major shortcoming of previous versions: the inability to manage virtualized application packages outside of the normal enterprise IT infrastructure. And from where I’m standing, the suddenly more mature and polished application virtualization product looks to be heading in the right direction.įor starters, the core development team – wisely kept intact during the transition – is finally starting to tackle some of the lingering design issues that hampered Thinstall’s scalability. With its soulmate VMware by its side for support, the recently renamed ThinApp is now taking its first tentative steps into adulthood.

With its chief competitors already paired off and dancing up a storm, Thinstall looked more and more like the lonesome loser, dateless and stag at the junior prom.įortunately, this awkward teenager eventually grew up.

A wallflower: That’s how I used to describe Thinstall when discussing the movers and shakers of the application virtualization party scene.

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