thin clientsTag Archive for thin-clients archive at Robert Pogson

Tag Archive for 'thin-clients'

Everybody Loves Small Cheap Computers

Published by Robert Pogson November 10th, 2012 in technology. 19 Comments

“According to IHS iSuppli Compute Platforms Topical Report, lower-end computers classified in either the "mainstream" category or the "value" the mainstream desktop PCs is expected to account for 46.9% of the market each by the year-end, while the top-end PCs will account for only 6%.”

see Low end desktops and PCs dominate the market: report – Computer Business Review.

I have been writing much the same thing despite trolls spamming my blog with tales that high-end PCs are the way to go and that everyone should have one. It’s not true and here are the stats to prove it: only 6% choose high-end PCs. For everyone else ordinary PCs in almost any format are good enough. That’s what Moore’s Law does in the end, makes RAM and CPU inexpensive. You only need enough CPU and RAM to be expensive if you are crunching large data, which most of us do not. Hence the rise of the smart thingies, the ultimate small cheap computers that fit in your pocket of hand and do everything a desktop of a few years ago would do for ~$100, and it runs on a tiny battery… no more cables dangling… That’s price/performance, what people really care about. And the OS? */Linux of course. You don’t get any lower price/performance than $0/gHz-gB.

- Robert Pogson

Extremadura Confirms Commitment to FLOSS

Published by Robert Pogson September 21st, 2012 in technology. 2 Comments

I have been writing for years about the benefits of FLOSS including GNU/Linux and thin clients in education. Government usage is not that much different so this combination should be useful in government as well. Apparently Extremadura thinks so:

“CIO Cayetano reaffirmed Extremadura’s support for open souce. Examples include the migration of the desktop PCs to a thin client infrastructure using Linux, and an overhaul of the region’s website, using an open source content management system.

In January, CIO Cayetano announced the start of a large-scale project to replace the current proprietary desktop software with an open source desktop. With 40,000 desktops, that would make it Europe’s second largest open source desktop example, between the French Gendarmerie (90,000 desktops) and the German city of Munich (14,000 desktops).”

see Spanish region of Extremadura confirms commitment to open source | Joinup.

Just do the maths. Asking the user’s PC to do less and the servers to do more is as natural as consolidation of servers only much more powerful in reducing costs. Thin clients suitable for desktop publishing, for instance, cost as little as $50 for the box whereas a notebook will cost at least $300. Considering you can have a better keyboard, monitor and mouse with the thin client for ~$150, there’s a savings of $100 per seat which can be used to buy an absolutely wonderful server or buy a totally adequate server for $30 or so and invest the rest in something you really need. Then there’s the operating costs. Less electricity, less fiddling, and no malware makes the IT just about free of cost in comparison.

Yes, Extremadura was ahead of the curve when they adopted GNU/Linux but they are a bit behind the times adopting the thin clients. Better late than never but then their GNU/Linux solution has probably reached the lifetime of its hardware. It’s time for change and still further reduced cost and complexity.

- Robert Pogson

Acer Enters Thin Client Market

Published by Robert Pogson September 2nd, 2012 in technology. 54 Comments

Thin clients are nothing new but Acer producing them is. Another interesting point is that some of these are ARMed so we could be seeing even more widespread adoption of */Linux on ARM and x86. DevonIT’s deTOS OS is one of the options. Acer is one of the top PC OEMs on Earth. They know people are loving small cheap computers.

“The new Acer Veriton N2110G Series comprise robust x86 thin clients that provide top-rate performance for power users. The Acer Veriton N2620G Series models are compact and flexible rich clients offering a TPM 1.2 compliant design and mainstream performance. The Acer Veriton N2010G Series are ultra compact ARM-based thin clients capable of delivering a rich multimedia experience at a significant value. All three series provide multi-tasking processing power, essential manageability and security tools as well as industrial compliance. Acer’s thin clients will be available through Acer resellers with prices starting at $239.”

see Acer enters thin client market.

- Robert Pogson

If You Like Thin Clients Stay Away From That Other OS

Published by Robert Pogson December 14th, 2008 in Uncategorized. 4 Comments

Thin clients are wonderful. They are:

small
quiet
cool
inexpensive
fast

but M$ wants to take away one of their chief advantages. This is what BILL VEGHTE said in an interview at Credit Suisse Annual Technology Conference 2008:

“we’ve been very successful in making sure that if you want the full Windows experience on there, that that is not — that doesn’t hit our average selling price. It’s delivering that Windows experience just through a different model, but our ability to deliver that, to extract that value instead of sort of a royalty type thing, do it through Client Access Licenses, server side and client.”

I will stick with GNU/Linux, Bill. I want it all. Compared to those big, old boxes, they are beautiful, eh? Let us reclaim the desktop. thin_client1

- Robert Pogson

Excitement About Thin Clients

Published by Robert Pogson December 13th, 2008 in Linux in Education and Teaching. 0 Comments

IDC has issued a press release:”IDC Predicts Current Economic Crisis Still Provides For Pockets Of Opportunities Within The Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) Region in 2009

12 Dec 2008

“

…9. Thin Clients Will Ride The Wave Of Cost Cutting And Desktop Virtualization

As the market matures, and better vendor collaboration results in software standards merging, virtualization to cut costs will extend beyond server virtualization in datacenters to virtualizing the desktop. In addition, deploying thin clients and a virtualized desktop environment will also reduce the carbon footprint. IDC is therefore optimistic and predicts that thin-client deployments on the back of desktop virtualization will gain traction in 2009, and further accelerate into 2010, as PC replacement cycles peak across the region. Full year 2009 thin-client shipments are expected to grow within the 12–15% range over 2008, to about 765,000 units.

10. The Economy And Mini-Notebooks Will Challenge The Way Computers Are Used And Sold In Asia/Pacific

IDC expects mini notebooks, a new product category created due to demand for devices that support mobility, to increase from around 5% of total notebooks shipped in the APEJ region in 2008 to more than 10% in 2009. The small cutesy form factor will be the primary selling point, but it will also change the way these devices are being used. With limited processing power and storage, users will be heavily dependent on being connected to the Internet, eventually running applications through the cloud. This demand for connectivity will further change the way mini notebooks are sold – instead of retail stores, partnerships with mobile operators are expected to proliferate with devices sold in service bundles like mobile phones, leveraging operators’ cellular 3G infrastructures. With vendors already looking at ways to overcome the challenges associated with this product category, IDC believes that mini notebooks will change the way traditional notebooks are used and sold.
…

This reflects the excitement I have been feeling about thin clients in education for several years. They are a great solution for cost-cutting and manageability. Of course, the IDC report is not only about education but the whole market in APEJ. Still, if businesses see the benefit, schools should as well.

The connection with netbooks is that both thin clients and netbooks share common features:

low cost
low footprint
low power
low noise

, all bringing value. The lack of horsepower for video is unimportant in many cases and, with the march of Moore’s Law, perhaps this will disappear as an impediment. That leaves the question, Why don’t more systems use thin clients?. I have no answer. Everyone to whom I have shown thin clients loves the improved performance and small footprint. Perhaps not enough people have seen them yet. I intend to change that in a small way at my next conference of teachers. I have a portable lab of thin clients under construction and will show it off with GNU/Linux, standard desktop applications, some particularly useful in education and some web applications like

Perhaps the IT industry is nervous about thin clients. After all, if thin clients cost less and last three times as long, isn’t there less money to be made selling them? Yes, but you should be able to sell many more and the servers to go with them. It is a paradigm shift, not the death of IT.

- Robert Pogson