Citrix XenApp 5.0 Delayed For Months?

Independent technology analyst & author Brian Madden is speculating a multiple-month delay for Citrix XenApp 5.0, not hearing anything about it at Citrix’ annual Synergy event. He writes:

“The current Presentation Server 4.5 product does NOT work on Windows Server 2008, so if you want to use Citrix + Server 2008, you need XenApp 5. Citrix told us again and again in 2007 that the “Delaware” edition of Presentation Server would be released 90 days after Microsoft releases Windows Server 2008.

Windows Server 2008 came out on February 28. That means we should see XenApp 5 in the end of May. Today is May 21, which means that technically Citrix has another week to release XenApp 5, but it’s unlikely this will happen since they haven’t mentioned it at Synergy. In fact the rumor floating around is that XenApp 5 won’t actually make it out for another few months.”

When asking Citrix employees, Brian received two different responses: one claiming Windows Server 2008 is not yet widely adopted for Terminal Server applications, making a release of a new XenApp version unnecessary, and one claiming that the mentioned period was more a ‘target’ than a real ‘commitment’.

Be that as it may, Brian is right to add that neither of these excuses explain why excactly XenApp 5 is taking so long. He goes on trying to provide an explanation for the likely delay, which we suggest you go read on his blog.