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So, your users aren't working on traditional "Desktop PC" instances anymore, but inexpensive terminal clients that connect to a backend Hypervisor running on a

So, your users aren't working on traditional "Desktop PC" instances anymore, but inexpensive terminal clients that connect to a backend Hypervisor running on a server? I've been waiting to see when companies would start doing that "en masse" - back in 1999/2000, I thought it was going to take off when Sun was promoting the Thin Client Concept. Then VMWare took it up - but, for some reason, I never saw it get any traction, and the vast majority (Well, in my experience, all) companies seemed to go the other direction (countering where my instincts thought we were going to go) - and started issuing everyone laptops. The exact opposite of thin clients connected to servers. I had to eat a lot of claim chowder. If I'm understanding your situation correctly, how do your thin clients work out in practice, and, how do people deal with scenarios in which they would normally use laptops? (Business Trips, Airplane Flights, etc...)

Spooky23 14y ago
I think the issue until a couple of years ago is that compute densities weren't there, and broadband wasn't pervasive. Now you can deliver a decent desktop through a VMWare VM-centric solution or a Citrix/Microsoft Server computer solution. The use cases work out like this: Stationary workers get PCs reimaged with a locked down OS...PCs get replaced by thin clients over time; Mobile workers either get laptops with remote access clients or tablets. The mobile folks love it, because they aren't tied down to some horrific work-issued laptop. The big remaining problem is Microsoft licensing. Unless you have an EA, the licensing is both obtuse and expensive. Lots of big enterprises are rolling out thousands of VDI desktops -- 2011/2012 was the point where the financial case started to make sense.