Persistent vs. Non-Persistent: Let the Customer Decide!
It is my belief that the customer will ultimately decide whether to implement a non- persistent or persistent virtual desktop solution. About a month ago I had the privilege of interviewing two very intelligent gentlemen in the VDI industry, Tal Klein, Senior Director of Products at Bromium and Guise Bule, CEO of tuCloud. In my conversation with Klein he compared VDI to penicillin. He explained that back in the day penicillin was looked at as a “cure all” solution for every disease, and how VDI is viewed in a similar way, as a “cure all” for IT problems. He agrees with most industry experts that for some use cases VDI is a viable solution, but for others it is not. I like Tal because he is not afraid to start a debate with others, and he did not hold anything back when I interviewed him on Desktop Cloud Live. This conversation with Tal was the impetus for another conversation which I would like to focus on for the remainder of this blog.
IS NON-PERSISTENT THE WAY OF THE FUTURE?
Bule talked about how non-persistent desktops are the way of the future. I was thoroughly impressed by his arguments. He reminds me of a warrior, fighting valiantly for the adoption of this technology. No doubt, he is a big believer in non-persistent deployments. Holy smokes, was he ever! See for yourself, he talked about it for about an hour on Desktop Cloud Live. And yes, his arguments are legit.
After hearing Bule’s arguments, I was torn whether non-persistent or persistent was the way of the future. After hearing what Guise had to say and after conducting research, I was drawn to the idea that a non-persistent desktop disguised as a persistent could be the best way forward. His arguments were convincing and I could tell that he had been around the VDI block once or twice.
PARADIGM SHIFT: “LET THE END USER DECIDE”
The thing is, both arguments for and against persistent vs. non-persistent are valid. My paradigm shifted from a “one is right” point of view to a, “both might be right” after reading Peter Bookman's blog titled “Why do people believe that non-persistent virtual desktops are the future of Desktop Cloud Computing? I do not!”. In his blog he gives both examples of persistent and non-persistent, and in both cases the customer was satisfied. Bookman agrees that giving the customer the freedom of choice is much better than forcing a decision upon them.
To me, virtual desktops are about freedom. Freedom to compute how you want, when you want, and from wherever you want. I believe that the ultimate dream of VDI should not be determined on persistent vs. non-persistent. Simply said it should be determined on, “Letting the customer decide!”
Giving people the option to choose A or B just makes sense. If customers are educated, they will know what is best for them. I ask myself, if I had the choice between non-persistent vs. persistent which one would I choose? To be honest, I would choose whatever best fits my needs, and I almost guarantee that customers would say the exact same thing! So I say let's educate the customers and give them the liberty to decide which solution is best for them.
MY DREAM OF VIRTUAL DESKTOPS
Now that I have expressed my opinion, allow me to share my dream of virtual desktops and how I believe they will be used. In the future you will see users simply subscribe to a desktop month-to-month and have access to it from any device around the world. I see a world where computing power is shared with everyone. It will be a world of ultimate computing freedom allowing users to have the applications they want without having to invest in expensive hardware. Isn’t that what thin clients are all about? Basic and cost effective computers that connect to a better desktop hosted in the cloud?
I would love to see the day when I can travel to third world countries and give those people the power to compute on a virtual desktop that can run programs like After Effects, Illustrator, Maya, and Premiere. They wouldn’t have to worry about having a beefy end point, or having to download the latest plug-ins because it would be delivered right to them. Think of the incredible creations these people would be able to produce. Think of the education that we could share with one another. Think of the computing freedom that they would enjoy. The possibilities are endless and we are not that far off. So I will say it again, and say it very strongly, freedom to decide is the way of the future.