EUC – looking back on 2024, looking ahead to 2025

Another year of innovation in the EUC space is almost over, so we asked experts Peter von Oven and Andrew Taylor for their thoughts on end user computing this past year and the forthcoming year, respectively. Great insights and potentially exciting times ahead.

2024

It’s been a very eventful year for the end user computing community and for all the vendors, partners, and customers who deliver digital workspace solutions. As 2024 draws to a close, I thought I would just put finger to keyboard and summarise some of the key things from the past year and some thoughts about what 2025 will bring for EUC.

Arise…Omnissa

We were already well aware of the Broadcom acquisition of VMware and that the end user computing business unit was being divested (sold), but the question was who would be the proud new owner. In February, it was announced that KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.), an American global investment company, had acquired the VMware EUC business unit for $4Bn. But it wasn’t until April 25th that we learned that the new name for the company was to be Omnissa.

Since April, it has been pretty much business as usual for Omnissa. The products, Horizon, App Volumes, Workspace ONE, etc., continue to innovate. One thing that hasn’t changed is that PCoIP will no longer be a display protocol for Horizon from the end of 2025. I thought I would highlight this as one thing you will need to revisit next year if you use PCoIP, particularly as you will be using zero client devices.

Challenging times for Citrix

As I’ve started by talking about Omnissa, it’s only fair, although these are in no particular order, to talk about Citrix. As with Broadcom/VMware/Omnissa, Citrix, now part of the Cloud Software Group after the Tibco acquisition, has also had a tough time with changes to licensing and that they would only be selling to the top 1000 customers while leaving the rest to partners. But that was not without its challenges, with customers reporting significant price increases for renewals. But it’s not all bad news. Citrix has been on the acquisition trail and, as a result, has added some core technology to its product portfolio.

First came the acquisition of vast limits GmbH, the German-based company behind uberAgent, adding observability to Citrix delivered apps and desktops. As the year comes to an end Citrix has given itself a couple of early Christmas presents in the form of deviceTrust and Strong Network, bolstering the security of delivering apps and desktops remotely.

The final point while discussing Citrix is that it launched a VDA version for macOS, meaning you can now connect remotely to a physical Apple Mac.

Not so new kids on the block

With this element of uncertainty in the market with two of the biggest players (yes, I know there is another “biggie” in the market, and I’ll get to AVD later as that is clearly up there in terms of market share and continuing to gain traction), this has presented the greatest opportunity to date for the EUC vendors with alternative solutions. These solutions should not and have not been ignored as they offer a much lower license cost, are often less complex, agnostic to the platforms they run on, and, more importantly, offer all the features an end user could ever need.

Vendors such as Apporto, Inuvika, Parallels, and Dizzion (the Frame platform that Nutanix sold) have all seen unprecedented growth, but not only that, the solutions have matured to match market demand with the ability to automate and deliver virtual desktop machines as well as application publication. All key features that any solution will need to address.

EUC ecosystems

Everything I’ve touched on so far has revolved around the delivery platform vendors, whether that be apps or VDI. However, EUC is much more about the ecosystem built around it to support delivering that end-user experience.

Let’s start with the client side or the edge. I’ve already touched on PCoIP no longer being provided as part of the Omnissa Horizon solution come the end of 2025, and so this year has been about looking at what to do. Migrate to the Blast protocol and swap out zero clients for thin clients? Or look at an alternative solution such as HP Trusted Zero Clients, which continues to use PCoIP. Other client vendors such as Amulet Hotkey launched clients to address both worlds, with the launch of a trusted zero client as well as a thin client that is operating system agnostic so you can choose the best solution for your requirements.

Then, there are the other equally important supporting ecosystem solutions that have seen huge growth this past year. Vendors such as Recast Software, which acquired Liqit, the endpoint and application consolidation experts, and ControlUp, the experts in DEX, added support for ChromeOS and strengthened partnerships with Nerdio and IGEL. On the subject of DEX, another acquisition was announced just last week, with UK-based 1E being acquired by TeamViewer for $720 million.

Win 10 and AVD

This article wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention the end of support for Windows 10, which is now less than a year away (October 2025), which is going to make for a busy 2025. Given the slow migration to Windows 11 (currently only 35% market share versus 62% for Windows 10), Microsoft recently announced a change in the TPM requirements for Windows 11, stating that TPM 1.2 is now the minimum requirement. That will likely help those end users on older hardware to migrate to Windows 11. If you need any help with this migration or any other transformation, then the team over at ManagementStudio would love to help. They too have had a busy 2024. Of course, if you are thinking about moving away from physical PC, then there are always the desktop-as-a-service options, which leads us nicely to Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD).

AVD growth in 2024 continues on a steep upward trajectory, and a recent Gartner Magic Quadrant report puts the solution in the top right corner, ahead of nearest rivals Omnissa and Citrix. As people look to migrate, I think it is safe to say this trend will continue throughout 2025 and beyond. AVD has a strong ecosystem too with must-have solutions from Nerdio and ControlUp to maximise efficiency, lower the cost and deliver the best end user experience. Microsoft even launched its own thin client device, the Windows 365 Link Cloud PC.

As you can see, 2024 was a busy year, and I’ve probably missed lots of other stuff. However, in the interest of not writing a whole EUC 2024 encyclopaedia, I’ve picked just a few highlights. So, will 2025 finally be the year of VDI? Well, we will just have to wait and see!

2025

Before getting into the details, I want to add a bit of a caveat: my crystal ball is currently being polished, so I cannot promise that any of this will happen in 2025. These are purely my best guesses. I mean, who had a global pandemic on their 2020 predictions?

Speaking of which, Covid gave organisations a massive push towards adopting Intune. Having the majority of your staff need to work from home all of a sudden was a real eye-opener for many companies – and massive credit to the unsung heroes amongst their IT staff for making it happen.

The big question now is what’s in store for 2025. The current year has very much been the year of AI, and at times, it feels like that has been at the expense of core features.

So long, Windows 10!

Obviously the biggest thing to hit the EUC space is end-of-support for Windows 10 in October.  While extended support is available, I see most companies trying to make the switch before the October deadline to avoid paying the extra or accepting the security risk. In these days of cyber insurance, that will become increasingly trickier.

I have heard rumours that the Windows 11 requirements will be softer, so you’ll still technically be able to upgrade unsupported hardware. Still, for most organisations, this probably isn’t worth the risk.  If you have a hardware replacement planned, why not take the chance to go fully cloud native?  The biggest hurdle for most is that it needs a re-installation of Windows, so a hardware replacement is the ideal time to do that.

Time for Intune

This is why I can see a big surge in Intune adoption as we near the October deadline, certainly among the larger organisations.

Smaller companies, however, have often slipped through the net, such as those with limited or no in-house IT department who probably use unmanaged devices supported by a local MSP or a nearby computer repair shop.  I see these organisations noticing the most significant change.  The Business Premium license is outstanding value for money, so if you’re already using Office applications, you can add Conditional Access, MFA, Microsoft Defender, and, more importantly, Intune for not much more.

Suddenly, we could potentially have many more devices properly secured and managed, and once this is in place, there will be no turning back. A definite opportunity for MSPs to target smaller companies.

Password to passkey

Could 2025 also be the year of the passkey?  With ransomware getting more prevalent, securing your devices and data is critical, and passwords have always been the weak link.  The official guidance has already shifted from an expiring password to a passphrase combined with MFA.  Switching to a passkey is the logical next step, so users never even need to know their password. They can’t accidentally share it with a bad actor if they don’t know it.

The rise of MacOS

I’ve also noticed an increasing trend in macOS devices in Enterprise settings, something which was unheard of outside of creative industries not long ago.  This is partly due to the battery life, the increasing move to SaaS and the cross-platform support of most applications.  Fortunately, the macOS support in Intune has also grown spectacularly in the last 12 months, and I can only see it improving.  Microsoft and Apple are working together, which makes a change, and you can see the difference that’s made with Entra sign-ins and much better Intune support.  I don’t think I’m ready to say that macOS will be the primary device in most companies, but it’s certainly more popular than I personally have ever seen it in 20 years.

A call to ARMs

Then there’s ARM for Windows and not the terrible version released with the original Surface RT for those who remember it.  The newest devices are actually usable for day-to-day tasks but have battery life, which will please executives everywhere because they couldn’t possibly use the power sockets available on trains, planes, hotels, and meeting rooms.

A large number of software manufacturers are now supporting Arm64, and the Windows emulation fills the gap for 99% of the other apps.  There will always be some apps that just don’t run or run poorly, but these are definitely in the minority, and it’s showing real progress.  I just hope the manufacturer support continues so we don’t see another Windows Mobile (still missed).

Access deni..granted!?

This isn’t strictly EUC-related, but there’s the elephant in the room: Copilot.  M365 Copilot, Windows Copilot, Copilot for Copilot! It’s definitely been the buzzword for 2024, and I don’t see it changing in 2025.  The financial investment by Microsoft means it will continue to be pushed for the foreseeable future.  That means companies need to really consider their data protection and security.  Software like Purview is going to become even more critical. The last thing you want is for an employee to ask Copilot for all financial data and be presented with items they should never have been allowed to access.

Revenge of the thin client

Back in the EUC world, one of the big announcements at Ignite was Windows 365 Link, which could be a game changer in some industries.  Yes, it’s the return of the dreaded thin clients which still give me nightmares, but from what I’ve seen, these actually have potential.  Combined with Windows 365 Frontline in Shared Mode, suddenly you can have shift workers accessing the applications they require on what’s effectively a terminal.  There’s no risk of data loss because there isn’t anything on the device. You can even put them in public areas, although you still have the financial risk – they’re not cheap!

Microsoft has spent a lot of time getting Windows 365 to where it is now, and I think there’s still more to come.  We’re reaching the point where the physical hardware is completely replaceable with no effort, and an employee has a single Windows 365 machine for the duration of their employment.  Hardware refreshes are no longer as critical, data loss is extremely unlikely (although users will always be users) and everything is just contained better.  If they can sort some offline access, maybe slightly lower pricing for W365 licensing, and if rail companies can sort out their wi-fi, it could really take off.

With VMWare, now Omnissa, struggling to regain its footing and Citrix clinging on for dear life, Microsoft is in a strong position with both AVD and Windows 365, especially combined with the Intune support for both to go to a single platform for managing all devices, but with the advantages of modern cloud-native management.

DEx

The Desktop Experience (DEx) has been around for many years, but I still feel it has yet to hit its prime. However, maybe once Windows 11 is out of the way, companies will start looking at how they can improve the overall experience for their end-users, especially if these tools can leverage AI to take the hard work out.  Imagine being warned when a device is about to fail or a user has done something they shouldn’t have done.  IT staff will be able to be proactive, fix issues before the user even notices, and maybe finally, not just be someone who is spoken to when something has broken.  I feel this is one to watch for 2025. With TeamViewer acquiring 1E, it looks like they have the same opinion.

This could be a third-party tool, or it could be the Endpoint Analytics function within Intune itself, or more likely, a mix of them both.

On the Intune/Windows side, there’s been a lot of work around securing the devices with recently released on attestation, Local Administrator Protection and others, really re-enforcing the secure by design from the chip level up.  Hopefully, this trend will continue to help secure devices, especially now that they can be used to work from anywhere.

Roadmaps and skills to brush up on

I’m also expecting enhancements to Intune Suite, which I personally still feel is a tough one to sell at the current price; you really need to be using at least two, ideally three, of the components for it to be worth it versus purchasing third-party alternatives.  The single pane of glass and agentless functionality is definitely worth a small surcharge, but I don’t think we’re there yet.  Looking at the Intune roadmap, there seems to be plenty planned for the suite, so only time will tell.

For any of you working in consulting or for an MSP, I would look to double down on your Purview and Intune skills. Remember, Windows 365 relies on Intune, so a solid baseline is critical.  As the AI train continues to steam ahead, data protection will make or break organisational implementations, and Purview is the key!

Finally, I’ll be paying close attention to roadmaps from all the big names in the EUC space in the New Year. Here’s the Microsoft one to get you started:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?rtc=2&filters=