What is a "shill"? (my dictionary doesn't tell me...)
I'm not sure if you are just impressed by the product ------
In that case I am pretty sure that you can't have seen and experienced the product's technology (which, BTW, was released under the GPL). Otherwise you *would* be sure....
I think the company has a pretty poor marketing. For example, their website doesn't state clearly enough the fact that they release the source of their core libraries under the GPL. That one is pretty much hidden. (The source files themselves do state it very clearly)
"The remotability of X11 on a window by window basis (as opposed to the whole desktop, which is how it's done in Windows) is central to this." ------- I'm sorry, I have bad news to you (and I hate to say it): Citrix/ICA can do "window by window" remoting already a long time. and Microsoft's RDP (Remote Desktop Protokol) in their latest versions can do it too. Plus, both take less bandwidth than X. And both are snappier than X, with less latency for the user. And both can near-seamlessly print from the application server to the locally atttached printer of the (maybe Thin) Client. And both can detach from a running session and re-attach to it again (even from another client, effectively providing "session migration").. Can X11 do this too? It is a set of features that is absolutely essential in an enterprise environment of fat servers/thin clients. (Yes, I know Citrix and Windows Terminal Servers cost more money than X11 which ships for free on Linux)
But stay comfortable, I have also some good news for ya (and I luv it):
The current version of NX/NoMachine, a highly efficient, GPL'd X11 compressor, supports this:
run with the same speed (or faster) and consume the same low bandwidht (or lower) as Citrix/ICA and Microsoft/RDP. Ths will proof to be a pretty big asset for X11 in the future battle for the enterprise desktops.
tunnel Citrix/ICA and Microsoft/RDP through its own connection. This will enable all NX clients to seemlessly access and bring to their desktops remote Windows sreens at a better speed than vanilla ICA/RDP.
support access to X11 applicationss from Windows, Mac OS X, Zaurus, iPAQ and mobil phones. This is the start of ubiquitous desktop computing where my own desktop follows me to wherever I roam. I can even access it from booting the latest Knoppix (V3.4)
And one of the next releases of NX/NoMachine will provide this:
support the display of single application windows from remote Windows Terminal Servers. This will make Windows --> Linux desktop migration scenarios much smoother -- you can offer a better way of keeping a lifeline back to the MS world for the transitional period where your users still need it for lack of a Linux implementation of a particular software.
support the de-taching and re-attaching from an X11 application without loosing the session.. This will enable "session migration": stop working in office, go home, kiss baby, have dinner, say goodnight to kids, finish that damn important document for next morning by dialing into your still running desktop session from home.
support seamless printing from X11 applicaton server to locally attached printer. The benefit is pretty obvious.
Those who don't know about NX by now are missing something really cool and useful.
Hey, and it case you haven't noticed: I said it is GPL! Yes, GPL licensed!! (OK -- NoMachine as the NX inventors have dual-licensed:it to themselves, and they are also building and selling a commercial product on top of the exact same GPL libraries.... So what? Trolltech do this with Qt, Codeweavers do this with WINE, MySQL do this with MySQL and Redhat do this with the Linux kernel. Let NoMachine also pay their own developers.)
And tell me what exactly are the bandwidth requirements of X?
Actually, the remote X problems aren't so much the bandwidth (which *is* important) but much more the "roundtrips". Depending on link latency each X protocol "request" by the X application client, that solicits a "reply" from the X server, introduces additional wait cycles. There comes a point where increasinb bandwidth doesn increase speed: you sit there with an empty pipe and waith for roundtrips to finish....
I hate to say it, but Citrix with their ICA, Microsoft with their RDP and Tarantelly with their IAP are all doing a much better job here and use far less bandwidth, making their stuff even work over modem links..
Overall, roundtrips make X feel very sluggish across WAN or low bandwidth links.
This paper gives a few good examples and figurs about plain vanilla X and NX-enabled X:
a Mozilla start-up alone produces nearly 6.000 round-trips and needs more than 7 minutes to complete over a 9.600 baud modem connection. With the help of NX, the round-trips are boiled down to a few dozen, and a startup may only take 20 seconds over the same modem link!
a full-screen KDE session transfers 4.1 MByte of data over the wire, if it is run over a vanilla remote X connection. Run it over NX, and the second startup data transfer volume is down to 35 kByte only! You can run KDE sessions over a 9.600 baud modem link and have a responsiveness which is better than TightVNC over a crosslink cable hooking together two boxes only 1 yard apart.
overall compression/speed gain is 70:1 (on average, across various applications), but can easily achieve 200:1 and more for some applications, like Web browsing.
To me, the GPL'd NX from NoMachine are the saviours for X and remote X connections. Finally someone has created a plugin addon to existing systems, which lets the Unix world compete on par with stuff like Citrix (which, strangely, is now embraced by Redhat). NX is giving a bright future to ubiquitous desktop computing based on Unix. What's best: it can even access Windows sessions (via RDP) with a 2- to 10fold speed increase over plain rdesktop sessions.
I am looking forward to see their session "de-tach and re-attach" feature, as well as their "session migration" (leave office, go home, tease the baby, have dinner, and finish your work via a remote session from home by dialing into the very same destkop that you left back at work).;-)
To me it seems pretty stupid that Novell/SUSE/LTSP arent using NoMachine's brilliant and highly efficient and GPL'd NX technology.
After all, they could see during last LinuxTag and last Linux-Kongress how well this works even over a modem or ISDN connection with as little as 20-40 kBit/sec.!!
Not only does NX speed up Unix-type X connections with a turbo charger, but also Windows RDP and general VNC sessions.
In the case of X, the avarage gain is a ratio of 70:1 for an office productivity sesson (KDE/destkop, KMail/mailer, Konqueror/filemanager, OpenOffice/wordprocessor and Mozilla/webbrowser all open and in use), when you combine the highest level of compression, with the intelligent cache and roundtrip-elimination NX provides so reliably.
Pretty stupid by their technicians as well as their marketeers, if you ask me.
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What is a "shill"? (my dictionary doesn't tell me...)
I'm not sure if you are just impressed by the product
------
In that case I am pretty sure that you can't have seen and experienced the product's technology (which, BTW, was released under the GPL). Otherwise you *would* be sure....
I think the company has a pretty poor marketing. For example, their website doesn't state clearly enough the fact that they release the source of their core libraries under the GPL. That one is pretty much hidden. (The source files themselves do state it very clearly)
"The remotability of X11 on a window by window basis (as opposed to the whole desktop, which is how it's done in Windows) is central to this."
-------
I'm sorry, I have bad news to you (and I hate to say it): Citrix/ICA can do "window by window" remoting already a long time. and Microsoft's RDP (Remote Desktop Protokol) in their latest versions can do it too. Plus, both take less bandwidth than X. And both are snappier than X, with less latency for the user. And both can near-seamlessly print from the application server to the locally atttached printer of the (maybe Thin) Client. And both can detach from a running session and re-attach to it again (even from another client, effectively providing "session migration").. Can X11 do this too? It is a set of features that is absolutely essential in an enterprise environment of fat servers/thin clients. (Yes, I know Citrix and Windows Terminal Servers cost more money than X11 which ships for free on Linux)
But stay comfortable, I have also some good news for ya (and I luv it):
Those who don't know about NX by now are missing something really cool and useful.
Hey, and it case you haven't noticed: I said it is GPL! Yes, GPL licensed!! (OK -- NoMachine as the NX inventors have dual-licensed:it to themselves, and they are also building and selling a commercial product on top of the exact same GPL libraries.... So what? Trolltech do this with Qt, Codeweavers do this with WINE, MySQL do this with MySQL and Redhat do this with the Linux kernel. Let NoMachine also pay their own developers.)
Oh, and in case I forgot to mention it: NX is really cool. See also this paper from Linux-Kongress 2003
And tell me what exactly are the bandwidth requirements of X?
Actually, the remote X problems aren't so much the bandwidth (which *is* important) but much more the "roundtrips". Depending on link latency each X protocol "request" by the X application client, that solicits a "reply" from the X server, introduces additional wait cycles. There comes a point where increasinb bandwidth doesn increase speed: you sit there with an empty pipe and waith for roundtrips to finish....
I hate to say it, but Citrix with their ICA, Microsoft with their RDP and Tarantelly with their IAP are all doing a much better job here and use far less bandwidth, making their stuff even work over modem links..
Overall, roundtrips make X feel very sluggish across WAN or low bandwidth links.
This paper gives a few good examples and figurs about plain vanilla X and NX-enabled X:
To me, the GPL'd NX from NoMachine are the saviours for X and remote X connections. Finally someone has created a plugin addon to existing systems, which lets the Unix world compete on par with stuff like Citrix (which, strangely, is now embraced by Redhat). NX is giving a bright future to ubiquitous desktop computing based on Unix. What's best: it can even access Windows sessions (via RDP) with a 2- to 10fold speed increase over plain rdesktop sessions.
I am looking forward to see their session "de-tach and re-attach" feature, as well as their "session migration" (leave office, go home, tease the baby, have dinner, and finish your work via a remote session from home by dialing into the very same destkop that you left back at work). ;-)
To me it seems pretty stupid that Novell/SUSE/LTSP arent using NoMachine's brilliant and highly efficient and GPL'd NX technology.
After all, they could see during last LinuxTag and last Linux-Kongress how well this works even over a modem or ISDN connection with as little as 20-40 kBit/sec.!!
Not only does NX speed up Unix-type X connections with a turbo charger, but also Windows RDP and general VNC sessions.
In the case of X, the avarage gain is a ratio of 70:1 for an office productivity sesson (KDE/destkop, KMail/mailer, Konqueror/filemanager, OpenOffice/wordprocessor and Mozilla/webbrowser all open and in use), when you combine the highest level of compression, with the intelligent cache and roundtrip-elimination NX provides so reliably.
Pretty stupid by their technicians as well as their marketeers, if you ask me.