Google last week announced a partnership with VMware, the software power house engaged in the development of tools dedicated to virtualization. The goal is to enable all persons who are in possession of a Chromebook to access Windows platforms to manage desktops, applications and data, leveraging Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS), Blast/HTML5 and related technology, already available for some time for other operating systems.

VMware will offer the DaaS virtual services for Chromebooks from Google. The idea is to run Windows applications on PCs running on Chrome OS. With managed services offering VMware on Chromebooks, businesses can achieve up to $5000 in savings, says the Mountain View company.

The proposed virtualization solutions service allows businesses to not worry about the back-end infrastructure to run virtualized environments. It relies on several technologies including Horizon for VDI and RDS (Remote Desktop Services) for offset applications. In addition, users can access their applications, data and even their office from a browser using the VMware’s Blast HTML5 technology.

Alternative to Windows XP

The initiative is aimed at all who wish to access a desktop environment through the cloud. The timing with which the collaboration was announced is not random–in less than two months, Microsoft will suspend the official support to Windows XP, leaving many professionals with a choice on how to react.

Microsoft’s Windows XP OS is still being used by more than 20% of users worldwide. After support ends in April this year, Windows XP users will be vulnerable to newly-discovered security exploits as Microsoft will no longer provide security hotfixes. The Mountain View group sees in this an opportunity to push further the spread of Chrome OS, providing potential new users with the ability to continue to interact with the Windows computer.

As the countdown to the abandonment of Windows XP continues, the spread of Chromebook and reliability of DaaS ensure that vulnerabilities related to security, compatibility issues and the need to find budget will no longer be an issues for XP users. In other words, Google and VMware invite professionals to test the functionality provided by Chrome OS, without having to abandon Windows, focusing on the fact that many people already in the business rely on multiple platforms for their business, such as Linux and OS X, with or without the help of virtualization systems.

“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,” Google said in the blog post. “VMware Horizon DaaS enables customers to centralize other desktop environments and manage these as a cloud service. Initially available to customers as an on-premise service or by VMWare vCloud Service Provider Partners (VSPPs) offering DaaS in the cloud or within hybrid deployments. Users will be able to access their Windows applications, data and desktops using VMware’s Blast HTML5 technology to their Chromebook.”

The service will be made ​​available shortly in the form of an application to be downloaded through the platform Chrome Web Store. Unfortunately, neither of the two entities involved in the partnership has provided a precise timing for the debut. More information on the characteristics and functioning Horizon DaaS can be found on the pages of the official website.

A business strategy…almost

Google wants to offer an alternative to Microsoft to provide a solution for managing email, contacts, calendars, notes and tasks. While Microsoft dominates the professional market, Google sees an opportunity with Google Apps. This solution was relatively poorly perceived by professionals. While Microsoft offers to manage IT assets connected to an internal server, Google Apps data is stored at Google, an awkward situation for CIOs concerned about data privacy.

While Google has been somewhat successful in the U.S. to sell Chromebooks for homes and schools, it has failed to get a foot in at the business. Most companies have for some Windows software that will not run on a Chromebook, which roughly consists of only one Chrome browser.

But together with VMware’s virtualization, Google has now a new offer to lure business customers. The programs that cannot run on the Chromebook, are in place will run in VMware’s cloud and used via the browser. Google says that it will run your traditional software on a remote server and have the applications available on your Chromebook in the same way today.

Desktop virtualization and VMware DaaS will enable Windows-based applications to run on Google Chromebooks, fulfilling the promise of the era of mobile cloud without compromising desktops. Businesses can now take advantage of these benefits with access to legacy applications, desktops and data they need to maintain the productivity of their employees.

Google and VMware have worked together before on cloud tools. Both the companies released a suite of tools including Spring Roo and Google Web Toolkit, Spring Insight and Google Speed Tracer and SpringSource Tool Suite and Google Plugin for Eclipse that will enable developers to rapidly produce cloud portable applications.

The cloud market leader Amazon last year launched its DaaS tool called Amazon Workspaces, a VDI solution for managing desktops in the cloud that is accessible from laptops, tablets, smartphone, etc. Amazon Workspaces provides each user with access to persistent storage in the AWS cloud and offers a choice of bundles providing different amounts of CPU, memory, and storage so you can match your Amazon Workspaces to your requirements.