Wednesday, June 17, 2009

[THIN] Citrix Program Neighborhood Feature Removal Announcement FAQ

Q: Who is the intended audience for this information?

A: This information is intended for XenApp customers, partners, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Citrix XenApp sales, channel, field readiness, and support personnel.

Q: What is Citrix announcing?

A: Citrix is announcing the end of support for Program Neighborhood in all future online plug-in releases. The Citrix online plug-in v11.0 is the last version to use Program Neighborhood. Classic Program Neighborhood will be supported through the second quarter of 2010.

Q: What Is Citrix Program Neighborhood?

A: Program Neighborhood is the legacy user interface included in the Citrix online plug-in (formerly Program Neighborhood Agent). With this interface, users can browse for groups of published resources (referred to as application sets) or create custom connections to individually published resources or to computers running Citrix XenApp.

Q: What is replacing Program Neighborhood?

A: Citrix encourages customers to leverage the Citrix Receiver as the best practice for delivering simple and consistent access to corporate desktops and applications from any device that the employee chooses to use. Receiver automates plug-in updates by checking the server for new versions as they become available. For customers who do not implement Citrix Receiver, newer versions of the Citrix online plug-in will be introduced periodically to include enhancements to the interface and core functionality.

Q: Why is Citrix taking this action?

A: Citrix has invested significantly in evolving its client technology to meet broader business requirements and user needs. The release of Citrix Receiver offers a more robust set of capabilities that simplify desktop and application delivery for IT. Receiver enables users to connect to their corporate applications from whatever device is convenient – a desktop or laptop PC, Macintosh, or even the iPhone – with a new and simplified interface.

Q: When will Program Neighborhood be removed?

A: Citrix customers have already begun to migrate to the newer client versions. The Citrix online plug-in v11.0 is the last version to use Program Neighborhood and it no longer installs Program Neighborhood by default. Version 11.1 no longer includes Program Neighborhood at all. While Program Neighborhood will still be supported in both of those versions, customers are encouraged to begin planning to adopt a newer client version or migrate to Citrix Receiver. With the v11.2 online plug-in release, tentatively scheduled for the third quarter of 2009, Program Neighborhood will no longer be supported.

Q: What is the expected impact?

A: The Citrix online plug-in requires customers to install and configure the XenApp Web Interface service in their environment. XenApp Web Interface was not a requirement for Program Neighborhood, therefore, customers must plan for this change to their XenApp infrastructure. Program Neighborhood allows users to connect directly to a specific XenApp server by allowing them to specify the server's address. This feature is used mostly for diagnostic purposes. Even though this feature will also no longer be available, Citrix is investigating development of alternative diagnostic tools to provide similar functionality.


http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX121727

No comments: