Thin clients' fat challenge: Thin clients may face thin times over the coming months, but the arguments in their favour remain sound

摘要

THE GRADUAL advance of the thin client has been one of IT's quieter revolutions, and one that tends to be cast in a subordinate role in debates around the future of Windows, Cloud Computing, and virtual desktops. Despite this it has the potential to radically reshape both the appearance and the economics of IT into the next decade. It may also prove a significant influence on the destinies of those hardware and software vendors that have built their fortunes on the market models that have driven the desktop PC market since the late 1980s.