We have done a number of stories detailing ways to make a Macintosh more at home on a Windows network. This is part of an increasingly popular trend. Mac’s are making more and more headway on Enterprise level networks. Sadly, this area is already dominated by Windows based workstations and servers. With the Mac’s powerful UNIX based operating system, network administrators have been steadily integrating Apple systems back into their networks.
OS X has a great deal of power and flexibility. With each release of the OS, we find that Apple is developing an operating system that is increasingly at home on a Windows based network. In the past we have done stories explaining how to share files between your Mac and PC, as well as use a Mac as a gateway router for an entire network. But regardless of how hard Apple works on OS X, one fact remains that cannot be ignored. No matter how well we can integrate the Mac OS with the Windows OS’s, the playing field will never be level until every application that works on Windows will also run on the Mac.
Unfortunately, this remains a virtual impossibility. As a result, we use emulators to run Windows applications from the comfort of our Mac desktop. On the down side, they require massive amounts of memory and disc space and have disappointing performance. No one would sit down at a Mac running a Windows emulator and forget that they are not using a real PC.
Emulators are certainly a valid option. Given Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Virtual PC, even the evildoers in Redmond want a piece of the emulator equation. Other companies have also been at it for years. RealPC and Blue Label work only under OS 9, but a recent news headline suggested that FWB’s RealPC might soon be available for OS X.
Windows Terminal Server:
There are several other options that are more suitable for the business network than emulators. For example, if you are running Windows 2000 Server on your LAN, you might be interested in Microsoft’s RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) client for the Mac. Windows 2000 Server is capable of running Microsoft Terminal Server. Using the Mac RDC client, users connect to the Terminal Server and essentially open a remote session in a window on the Mac. This remote connection provides complete access to the Windows box as if the user were sitting right in front of it. The connection can be used over almost any Internet connection ranging in speed from a modem dial-up account to LAN speed connections. If you are connecting over a LAN, the performance of your remote session is such that you might forget you are working on a Mac altogether. Mouse tracking and screen redraw are graceful since there is no need for processor emulation. And since the session is open in a window, you can easily hide it and have instant access to your Mac at any time.
Terminal Server is remarkably flexible and efficient. When users connect to the Terminal Server using the Mac RDC client, they have the ability to make the session full screen. Users can take full advantage of all available screen real estate on the Mac. Just hide the remote window and you once again have full access to your Mac. It is even possible to copy and paste text between the Mac and the remote PC desktop!
The performance of RDC far exceeds all available emulation products because all mouse clicks and keystrokes are actually transmitted to and take place on the Terminal Server. All applications reside in the server’s memory and the actual PC does all of the processing. This makes the interaction between the Mac and the PC extremely responsive. There is virtually no overhead on the Mac.
Note:
Users of Windows XP Professional have built-in support for Mac RDC. XP Pro allows one remote session to be open at a time. This allows one user at a time to open a terminal session to XP and have full access in the exact same way users access Terminal Server. Please note that this is not possible under Windows XP Home. |
Citrix Server:
When it comes to running Windows on a Mac, Windows Terminal Server is hard to beat. But there is another enterprise level solution available. Citrix Server is an even more robust solution that picks up where Windows Terminal Server left off. They should, considering Citrix predates Terminal Server and was, in fact, the inspiration for Microsoft’s proprietary product. You didn't think every feature of Windows we copied from Apple, did you? :-)
Citrix can do everything Terminal Server can, but it generally does it better. Communication between the clients on the Mac takes place in the same manner; Citrix just does it a little better. It is faster and generally considered to be the more efficient of the two systems. Citrix boasts more robust printer support, the ability to customize encryption between the client and the server, as well as the ability to publish applications. With a published application such as MS Word, the user will only see the application in their remote window. They are not hindered by unnecessary access to the Windows desktop or GUI. For the most part, running a published application on the Mac really is like launching a Windows application on your Mac. The integration is pretty seamless.
Microsoft supports Terminal connections from all of the Windows OS’s and Mac OS X. Citrix makes itself worthwhile not only by picking up where Microsoft left off, but by providing client installers that run on everything from DOS to some of the most obscure flavors of UNIX. This is a powerful way to do business since companies can build very cheap workstations that run a free OS (such as Linux) and use them as thin-clients to access the company mainframe.
Everything has a price, and for Citrix you pay a premium. Citrix claims to be in use by 80% of Fortune 500 companies as well as an untold number of government and educational institutions. If you need a solution this powerful, be prepared to pay accordingly. Pricing changes often. Visit Citrix.com for up to date pricing.
The Future of the Mac:
When it comes to terminal emulation, it's worth considering the future of OS X. OS X is UNIX, and by definition UNIX is a multi-user operating system. That means it is capable of running concurrent sessions for multiple users at one time.
Since the release of OS X 10.1, there have been rumors circulating that Apple would be releasing a server package that would let multiple users run graphical sessions on a remote server. This would, for all intensive purposes, be like having Citrix Server for OS X. If this truly does happen, we will likely see Windows based clients that will give Windows users access to the Mac GUI running on a server over a network.
Simply put, there are alternatives to emulators that give us a virtual PC that runs on a Macintosh. Terminal Server and Citrix are far too expensive and convoluted for the average home user, but they do create some very powerful ways to integrate Macs back into the professional business network.
