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As internet speed increases, we will see computers turning into thin clients. Why pay for a ridiculously powerful desktop that's idle 98% of the time? Once you

As internet speed increases, we will see computers turning into thin clients. Why pay for a ridiculously powerful desktop that's idle 98% of the time? Once you reach gigabit speeds, you can do all kinds of crazy cool things, like editing 4K videos remotely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxHOzG-1KvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxHOzG-1KvM

astrodust 11y ago
This always seems to be one of those things on the verge of happening, but every effort to promote it has failed. Even 10ms of latency can be a serious drag on your user interface. Thin clients kind of suck for this reason.
userbinator 11y ago
Why pay for a ridiculously powerful desktop that's idle 98% of the time? Because you actually own the physical machine; some may disagree, especially the DRM crowd, but there's a big difference between having hardware that is and on your property and just having volatile control over a machine in some unknown location.
- DanBC 11y ago
  People used to buy DVD machines and DVDs, now they have Netflix and set top boxes.
  - userbinator 11y ago
    ...and buy BluRays instead of DVDs.
xorcist 11y ago
Not really. So far the use cases have become wider rather than simpler, and we've simply found use for that extra power. You need a pretty powerful machine just to watch 4K video, and to fill up that gigabit pipe. And if you want to play modern games you need to get a very powerful one.
xiaoma 11y ago
Until the speed of light starts increasing, latency will always be an issue for thin clients. Fun experiment: Try ssh-ing into a web host or a school account. Peruse a few directories and open a few files in VI. Type in a paragraph of text. Now try the same on your local machine's terminal and compare the responsiveness!
- imaginenore 11y ago
  I'm a developer, I SSH into remote machines and type code all the time. As long as you're 10-15ms away, it's not an issue.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - xiaoma 11y ago
    10-15ms is good enough of a ping for an FPS. That's fantastic!

astrodust 11y ago

This always seems to be one of those things on the verge of happening, but every effort to promote it has failed. Even 10ms of latency can be a serious drag on your user interface. Thin clients kind of suck for this reason.

userbinator 11y ago

Why pay for a ridiculously powerful desktop that's idle 98% of the time? Because you actually own the physical machine; some may disagree, especially the DRM crowd, but there's a big difference between having hardware that is and on your property and just having volatile control over a machine in some unknown location.

DanBC 11y ago
People used to buy DVD machines and DVDs, now they have Netflix and set top boxes.
- userbinator 11y ago
  ...and buy BluRays instead of DVDs.

xorcist 11y ago

Not really. So far the use cases have become wider rather than simpler, and we've simply found use for that extra power. You need a pretty powerful machine just to watch 4K video, and to fill up that gigabit pipe. And if you want to play modern games you need to get a very powerful one.

xiaoma 11y ago

Until the speed of light starts increasing, latency will always be an issue for thin clients. Fun experiment: Try ssh-ing into a web host or a school account. Peruse a few directories and open a few files in VI. Type in a paragraph of text. Now try the same on your local machine's terminal and compare the responsiveness!

imaginenore 11y ago
I'm a developer, I SSH into remote machines and type code all the time. As long as you're 10-15ms away, it's not an issue.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- xiaoma 11y ago
  10-15ms is good enough of a ping for an FPS. That's fantastic!