VMware View

VMware View is a commercial desktop-virtualization product developed by VMware, Inc. Its first two releases (2.0.0 and 2.1.0) sold under the name VMware VDM, but with the 3.0.0 release in 2008 VMware Inc. changed the name to "VMware View". "VMware View" became "Horizon View" with the launch of Horizon 6 in April 2014.

VMware View provides remote-desktop capabilities to users using VMware's virtualization technology. A client desktop operating-system - typically Microsoft Windows 7, Vista or XP - runs within a virtual environment on a server. The VMware View product has a number of components which are required to provide the virtual desktops, including:

Although VMware licenses vSphere hypervisor per physical CPU-socket, it licenses VMware View per concurrent desktop. The bundled hypervisor, vSphere for Desktops, is functionally equivalent to vSphere Enterprise Plus.

VMware View has two licensing options, Enterprise and Premier. Enterprise comes with vSphere for Desktops, vCenter Server, and View Manager, and has an MSRP of $150 per concurrent desktop. View Composer, Persona Management, vShield Endpoint, and ThinApp are included in the Premier edition at an MSRP of $250 per concurrent desktop.

In order to transport a view of the desktop to users, keyboard, video, mouse and other interactions travel over a LAN connection. VMware View supports both the Microsoft-developed RDP () and the Teradici-licensed PCoIP (PC-over-IP) protocol.

Users establish client connections to VMware View sessions by running a VMware View Client on a local host. The product supports most versions of Windows, along with Mac OS X. Specific embedded clients are also supported for a large number of thin clients, for a list of supported clients refer to the VMware website.

An open-source product called "VMware View Open Client" can connect from a Linux or Mac OS X desktop to remote Windows desktops managed by VMware View. The client uses rdesktop under-the-hood to connect to the host. The VMware View Open Client was abandoned in 2013.

An HTML5 Client for VMware View is available to enable access to VMware View desktops directly from within any HTML5-compatible web browser such as Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox (for Windows, Linux, Mac and Chrome OS devices, such as Chromebooks).