Desktop vs Published Apps - File Association

[jockojem]

Can anyone help?
we are currently in the process of moving all apps in our 80 user network to a Metaframe implementation (office, project, visio etc). We currently run only our accounts package via Citrix.
Ideally I would have liked to have run everything as a published app although I believe that file association is a no-no this way and therefore we've opted for a desktop approach.
a. Am I right about file association?
b. Can anyone tell me about any large cons with the desktop approach that would outweigh the pros of file assoc?

Thanks

Jem

 

[CitrixEngineer]

I've never really considered the implications of file association, because the users at my sites that use published applications all launch the app and open files the "old-fashioned" way.

There was one big exception;

At one major site, I implemented published desktops to WinTerms. The standard desktop (as it became known) had a set of common applications (Word, Excel, IE). This desktop was locked down using system policies - probably the biggest "con" here is the steep learning curve, if you're not used to policies and profiles.

I then created shortcuts, and saved them in group folders. These would appear to groups that had need of them, via a desktop path entry in the group policy.

All of these apps could, of course, take advantage of file association within the desktop.

The biggest disadvantage of published desktops is the large number of security holes, particularly within Microsoft applications. This can be remedied to a large extent via system policies.

Design and test your policies before implementation, and you should have few problems with published desktops. This is one time those wierd hacking sites can help - find out the holes in the operating system and applications and plug as many as you can.

Occasionally, however, you may have to resort to corporate policy; any user caught hacking the system should be severely reprimanded!

PS. I really mean it about testing the policies.


I hope this helps.

 

[jockojem]

Thanks very much. I'm having a bit of a failure of confidence in the desktop approach and may just go for published apps. I think the minor shortfall in usability I mentioned should be outweighed by the total savings/efficiencies.

This may not be my last posting!

Jem

ps - I tried to award a helpful star but it kept erroring!