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12,000 years ago when 10BaseT still roamed the earth we had things called X-terminals. All the X-terminal had to do was to run an X server, while all computing

12,000 years ago when 10BaseT still roamed the earth we had things called X-terminals. All the X-terminal had to do was to run an X server, while all computing was done on the large (for the time, typically DEC or IBM) computers some-where else. When X-terminals were packed up and sold by the pallet load we saw having "our own CPU" on our desks as a great liberation. So here's my gormless question: What has changed that fully distributed systems aren't as desirable?

vxxzy 10y ago
From a Sysadmin perspective: data management. It is easier to mange data in one place than in multiple locations. Why has Vitualization become so popular? We have kind of gone full circle at this point.
nlawalker 10y ago
>> What has changed that fully distributed systems aren't as desirable? The amount of stored personal data (content, installed software, preferences/configuration) that the average user wants to access, and the concerns (expense, privacy, resiliency, speed) related to distributing that data. The average user of today doesn't want more CPU, they want their stuff. For most people, it's far more efficient to open a window to the remote machine that has their stuff than it is to try to move all that stuff onto the machine they're sitting at.
throwaway2048 10y ago
It dosen't give people creating/maintaining the software the level of control they want.
themartorana 10y ago
Loved those. Spent a lot of my formative years logged onto an Xterm in the basements of engineering buildings at Rutgers.
nickpsecurity 10y ago
I've been saying that a while. You'll love this article that briefly summarizes the stages that we went through from mainframes to desktop liberation to re-inventing mainframes with the long-term consequences that follow. http://www.throwww.com/a/7bn http://www.throwww.com/a/7bn Meanwhile, there's these other projects creating standalone apps without the complexity and performance issues of browsers that do remote desktops. There's even a whole market of embedded, fanless systems that sell for $20-50 dollars that do it with or without protocol/media acceleration. There's also alternatives in client-server land like REBOL and its "reblets" that send whole, Internet apps to clients that are 2-50KB. Then, there's these projects doing remote desktops by embedding protocols in HTML5 in a web browser running on a native OS on expensive hardware. I'm sure it only seems like modern IT goes out of it's way to do simple things effectively. ;)
IshKebab 10y ago
Well, CPUs are now much cheaper so everyone has one on their desk. Obviously. So the only reason you'd use a distributed computing system now is if a) you're running some kind of publicly accessible server or b) you need a lot of computing power. Distributed storage is another matter, but you don't need remote desktop for that.

vxxzy 10y ago

From a Sysadmin perspective: data management. It is easier to mange data in one place than in multiple locations. Why has Vitualization become so popular? We have kind of gone full circle at this point.

nlawalker 10y ago

>> What has changed that fully distributed systems aren't as desirable? The amount of stored personal data (content, installed software, preferences/configuration) that the average user wants to access, and the concerns (expense, privacy, resiliency, speed) related to distributing that data. The average user of today doesn't want more CPU, they want their stuff. For most people, it's far more efficient to open a window to the remote machine that has their stuff than it is to try to move all that stuff onto the machine they're sitting at.

throwaway2048 10y ago

It dosen't give people creating/maintaining the software the level of control they want.

themartorana 10y ago

Loved those. Spent a lot of my formative years logged onto an Xterm in the basements of engineering buildings at Rutgers.

nickpsecurity 10y ago

I've been saying that a while. You'll love this article that briefly summarizes the stages that we went through from mainframes to desktop liberation to re-inventing mainframes with the long-term consequences that follow. http://www.throwww.com/a/7bn http://www.throwww.com/a/7bn Meanwhile, there's these other projects creating standalone apps without the complexity and performance issues of browsers that do remote desktops. There's even a whole market of embedded, fanless systems that sell for $20-50 dollars that do it with or without protocol/media acceleration. There's also alternatives in client-server land like REBOL and its "reblets" that send whole, Internet apps to clients that are 2-50KB. Then, there's these projects doing remote desktops by embedding protocols in HTML5 in a web browser running on a native OS on expensive hardware. I'm sure it only seems like modern IT goes out of it's way to do simple things effectively. ;)

IshKebab 10y ago

Well, CPUs are now much cheaper so everyone has one on their desk. Obviously. So the only reason you'd use a distributed computing system now is if a) you're running some kind of publicly accessible server or b) you need a lot of computing power. Distributed storage is another matter, but you don't need remote desktop for that.