There is perhaps no greater of a deviation from the standard Microsoft vision of Windows than virtual desktops. For those unfamiliar with the topic, the concept is that an installation of Windows is contained in a virtual machine on a host, and the host then holds as many virtual machines as it can to increase density and cost savings for the infrastructure.
Brian Madden wrote a book discussing this triangle sort of problem called VDI Delusion. The crux of the issue is that Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) items such as virtual hosts, high-speed storage, network devices, expensive software licenses, and other technologies quickly add to a large bill. Most organizations tend to think VDI means cost savings; this could not be further from the truth in many instances.
In my opinion, VDI projects that succeed are based on the concepts of control, user experience...