Google Chrome OS users can now access Windows apps and desktops via VMware

By Robin Sinha | Updated: 13 February 2014 14:53 IST

Google has announced its partnership with VMWare, a US firm which is known to offer cloud software and virtualisation services, to help users access Windows through Chrome OS.

The access to Windows OS is possible through virtualisation software dubbed VMware Horizon DaaS (Desktop as a Service) paired with VMware's Blast HTML5 technology, which will help users manage their Windows desktop, data and other applications through their Chromebooks and Chrome OS machines.

"Today at VMware Partner Exchange 2014, VMware announced that it is joining forces with Google to modernize corporate desktops for the Mobile Cloud Era by providing businesses with secure, cloud access to Windows applications, data and Desktops on Google Chromebooks," stated the official VMware press release page.

It is being expected that Google might use this particular feature in order to help users shift from Windows XP, for which Microsoft will end support in less than two months.

"This means you can work with Chromebooks and connect to a Windows experience running VMWare Horizon View. As the countdown to Windows XP end of life continues, deploying Chromebooks and taking advantage of a DaaS environment ensures that security vulnerabilities, application compatibility and migration budgets will be a thing of the past," states the official Google Enterprise blog post.

Google adds: "This technology is available now by bringing together VMware Horizon View 5.3 and Chromebooks as an on-premise service and will be available soon as an application that can be installed from the Chrome Web Store."

However, remote access to Windows OS is not something new for Google as the firm already has its own Remote Desktop App on the Chrome Web Store

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