VMware Project Northstar (Thinstall) enters Beta 2
VMware Project Northstar (formerly Thinstall) Beta 2 release is now available. If you're a little fuzzy on application virtualization, here is our description:
VMware application virtualization (powered by Thinstall) technology lets you deploy applications without conflicts quicker then ever before. Application virtualization extends the reach of desktop virtualization from the operating system to the application layer and simplifies the delivery of applications. See how application virtualization is enabling organizations to ease their Vista migrations while reducing application conflicts, deployment costs, and empowering a mobile workforce.
Go to the Project Northstar Beta Portal for more information. New features in Beta 2 include:
Application Link: allows administrators to dynamically link Thinstall packages to one another, making it possible to create separate packages for interdependent components (such as Java or .NET) and use them across multiple Thinstall packages.
Application Sync: allows customers to execute updates to virtual applications through a secure Internet connection, increasing application portability while reducing security and patch risks to offline and out-of-network machines.
Edwin Friesen over at thinstallguru.com is looking at this release. In this post Preview VMware Project NorthStar Beta 2 | Edwin Friesen - Application Delivery Blog he gives great step-by-step screen shots of the user interface.
Edwin just posted a little test drive of the new Application Link. Link: Project NorthStar Beta 2; Application Link | Edwin Friesen - Application Delivery Blog.
I did a lot of testing with Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 (before SoftGrid) and figured out that linkÃng virtual applications works very well for Microsoft Office plugins but when you want to use it for middleware applications such as Oracle, DotNet Framework or Java it is not so terrific. In the mean time VMware-Thinstall (Project NorthStar) is also building a powerfull solution to create an ‘Application Link’ between two virtual applications. I did some research and tried to package a Thinstalled application which is build on DotNet Framework 2.0. ... The result is great!!
You can download the beta today. The beta portal has a beta license key, release notes, community discussion, and more.
Posted by John Troyer on May 8, 2008 in VMware View | Permalink | 
![[image]](http://mowser.com/img?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vmware.com%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Ftpl%2Frss.gif)
Is it possible for NorthStar to portablise the following FREE software?
Homepage:
http://www.thinkwave.com/
Download:
http://download.thinkwave.org/twe28132.exe
I have tried using the beta version - but can not get it to work.
Thank you for your help
Posted by: Slow Learner | May 19, 2008 at 12:02 PM