HP to release 3 thin clients PCs 61
According to an Article in InfoWorld, HP will release next week a new family of thin client PCs. Out of the 3 models that they will release, 2 of them will be with an embedded Linux core (the L & X models, and the G model with MS Windows CE) and they'll include Netscape Navigator for browser-based access to Java programs as well as access to Windows applications. The X series also includes HP's ChaiVM embedded Java virtual machine, providing access to applications hosted on Unix and legacy servers.
Oracle is also working on a thin client, so I think we will soon see some competition in the thin client area, where Linux will be getting much more attention, and more important - more Linux development. Who says competition is bad? :)
Re:Application Servers (Score:2)
Microsoft actually owns part of Citrix. But that didn't stop them from playing hardball with Citrix. They essentially strongarmed Citrix into giving them their technology, and the reason WinFrame only supports 3.51 is because Microsoft more or less forced Citrix to do so, to avoid competition with WTS, despite the fact that in many ways WinFrame has advantages over WTS.
Microsoft is deathly afraid that a rise in popularity of products such as WinFrame would jeopardize their ability to force fat clients (bloated with other Microsoft products) onto the desktop.
Re: (Score:2)
OT:Permanent AskSlashdot for questions about /.?OT (Score:1)
Re:Entria??? New??? (Score:1)
--Akeru
Re:Application Servers (Score:1)
Re:Three questions: (Score:1)
Application Servers (Score:3)
Never underestimate the power of stupidity in large groups
Re:Celeron is cheaper (Score:2)
Re:What good are these ? (Score:2)
Re:Permanent AskSlashdot for questions about /.? (Score:1)
CY
Re:Mirrors for Slashdot please! (Score:1)
It's unaccessable several times a week from Finland after 5pm. During the day it works fine (cause people on the other side are sleepy).
Entria??? New??? (Score:1)
Must every company (re)announce "new" products just so they can get more PR?
Using Linux is great, but this isn't new.
Re:What good are these ? (Score:1)
THEY'RE BUILT AND SUPPORTED (Score:1)
user computer costs. A machine over 3 years will
easily have at least 2-3K worth of support costs
associated with it. Cheap machines are big in
the home market. The business market really
doesn't care that much.
2. These machines are pre built, tested, and
have a known configuration. Hardware maintanence
and support is trivial for these things. The
significant cost of human support is cut to
a fraction for that of a PC. No HDD means
that each machine is _completely_ exchangable.
Imagine when a user has a problem with their box,
they take it over to the support office, and the
office gives them another box in 3 minutes,
and look at the defective one later. That's
productivity.
3. Software support costs are cut to the servers
and servers only.
--
Insanity Takes Its Toll. Please Have Exact Change
Re:What good are these ? (Score:1)
Look, I run networks with hundreds of Unix workstations. Linux is a lot easier to manage than Windows, but the software on the local host still get screwed up, upgrades are still somewhat painful (especially since users have a tendency to turn off their PCs), and it still takes a lot longer to rebuild a Linux system than to power-cycle an NC.
I'm not saying that NCs are perfect for all applications, but for the simpler stuff (e-mail, web, word processing, spreadsheets, database clients) that has low bandwidth requirements, and where you have a lot of seats, they're great.
cjs
Call me cynical, but... (Score:2)
Oooh, accessing java with Navigator. That'll be successful.
but in all seriousness... (Score:1)
Think Microsoft will play hardball? (Score:1)
www.bluealien.org
This is a milestone for Linux. (Score:2)
What good are these ? (Score:2)
Why opt for a 700$ machine that can only act as a thin client when you can get a 1000$ PC that is quite a bit more powerful, and can do everything the thin client can ?
Couldn't they just take their weakest normal PC, remove the floppy and CD-Rom drives, and pre-install thin-client software ? It'd do the same thing, except it'd be equipped with a hard drive for caching... It'd have a faster processor... It'd be far more versatile.
Pricing seems screwy (Score:2)
Re:but in all seriousness... (Score:1)
More importantly, "imagine a Beowulf cluster of those" embedded Linux thin clients!
Re:What good are these ? (Score:1)
Ok, so someone screws up the software on the hard drive of the PC. How long does it take to fix? How long does it take to do the equivalant fix on a thin client (i.e., reboot it)?
Or say a machine breaks? You just plop in another one, and you know the user won't come back to you saying `I needed stuff I left on my hard drive.'
cjs
Re:Application Servers (Score:2)
5 legal copies of vmware - $500 ( non commercial version)
5 legal copies of NT workstation (assuming you want nt workstation) $1345 (full version at $269 a copy you could skim $120 bucks if you just bought licenses on the remaining 4 copies)
Linux (only because I've never tried vmware on bsd via emulation) - free (or 1.99 per for a cheapbytes cd)
Grand total in software costs = $1845
Mind you this is all minus tax and the price on NT workstation I grabbed from an Insight catalog on the desk. This is the configuration a few of our users run. The only reason they use the vmware is for the office software or to run outlook with our shitty exchange server. But since I turned on loverly simap on the exhcange box they can read mail with netscape's mail client.
As far as hardware, vmware-able machiens should have a bit more power than a standard linux ws would but really memory is where the cost would come in. Machines with 128 megs could handle it fine. At least mine does.
Re:What good are these ? (Score:2)
If people can't mess around with their machines, then companies don't have to spend time fixing them. We're talking companies, not home users.
What do most "normal" workers need to do in an office? Word processing, spreadsheets, etc. If there is an office suite available (such as StarOffice), then that's all they need. No worries about people deleting system files, etc. Just reboot and get a new image.
Re:Mirrors for Slashdot please! (Score:1)
Naaah, it's pretty fast from Poland...
-jfedor
Re:What good are these ? (Score:1)
CY
Re:Application Servers (Score:1)
WinCE thins just a remote display? (Score:1)
Seems like Windows people have just invented an X terminal...
Amazing!
-jfedor
VNC may help you! (Score:2)
If you really want to be able to throw the desktop remotely, look at VNC [att.com].
If the application that you are interested in can run on Linux (or has a Linux-friendly replacement [corel.com]), you can cheerfully install the application on one Linux box, run multiple copies of VNC server, and get the capabilities of NT Terminal Server with Citrix MetaFrame with the only software cost being the cost of the application. And your uptime will be better, bandwidth usage will be lower, and the result can be used from your choice of OS.
You don't even need VNC if you are willing to use it from a client that runs X-Windows. Any window can be thrown elsewhere. In a Linux environment *every* machine is the equivalent of NT Terminal Server. But unless you install software locally, Windows will not act as a client.
VMWare in Linux is mainly useful for dealing with a mixed Windows/Linux environment. With VNC you can throw a window elsewhere. However it will show up as a window containing Linux desktop within which you have a window whose contents are the NT machine. Can you say "blech"? For that set-up I would suggest using straight VNC on NT (unforunately you will then pay hardware rather than software).
Of course, as I mentioned before, in an all-Linux environment you would have had this functionality without needing additional software or multiple machines.
Regards,
Ben
Re:What good are these ? (Score:1)
Re:What good are these ? (Score:1)
And in the above sentence is probably the answer to my question-- IF you know what you're doing. How long till companies start to figure out that paying more for competent admins saves them much more money than they'd save by hiring from the "I just got my MCSE and I'd like $75,000 please" crowd?
Seconded request (Score:1)
In case anyone is interested, here are my requests:
- Allow the <CODE> tag.
- Replace leading white-space with (allowing indentation to work in Plain Old Text mode). I will even gladly supply the needed regular expression to do this.
- Add a simpler means of giving this kind of feedback.
Ben
Re:Application Servers (Score:1)
Read the post next time!
*smack*