I am quite sure we all have used Winnows remote desktop application to connect to other Windows PCs or server. I can remember when we were in the need to access windows PC from Linux desktop, i had installed VNC server and client to success desktop. Later I have used TeamViewer a lot to access remote application. In the remote desktop application, we used to get to the desktop and look for the application we need. But in this RemoteApp service, we will only see the apps that are shared with me or I have listed for me to access remotely.
Now the application will be delivered from Windows Azure’s reliable platform. You can scale your host without large capital expenses. Scale up when you need more load and scan down for normal access. The service is delivered via Microsoft Remote Desktop protocol.
You need to create Azure RemoteApp service and publish programs under this and the users who can access the programs. For adding user we will have the identity flexibility. That is, we can add any users with different domain email addresses; it can be live id or your company domain name. When users are added in the service, he or she will have the app listed under ‘App Invitation’ menu. When he will accept the app it will be listed under the program list and he can use it.
When MS word is running in iPhone, it is basically running in the real windows environment not some local app is opening the doc file. The great advantage will be when you are running excel file that has macro. There are two type of publishing choices, Cloud deployment and hybrid deployment. Cloud deployment is simple app selection in the azure platform. Hybrid deployment need to go through the vpn option which can connect to the apps from multiple servers.
Currently RemoteApp is in preview period that its free. There is a new announcement from Microsoft Azure team December 05, 2014, that it will be generally available on December 11, 2014. Any Azure RemoteApp instances created during the preview period will continue to function as they do today. Then it will go under 30 days trial period. You can check the pricing from Azure RemoteApp pricing webpage.