JackPC - Multimedia Thin Client PC

[mr.Curmudgeon]

http://www.chippc.com/products/thinclients/jackpc/

Now, this is just crazy.

[Santoro]

Thin-client is very lame IMHO.  This is Super Lame. 

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Never used one before...what's lame about it?

In theory it seems interesting enough, but I'd like to know more if you've got first-hand experience.


mrC

[Santoro]

My experience with Citrix and Windows Terminal server is just that it is bad from an end-user perspective.

[Santoro]

I was given a pitch of the Softricity desktop a few weeks ago.  Anyone looking at Thin-client computing should look at this thing too.  It has all the benefits of thin-client, but applications can run locally and still be virtualized at the same time.  The result?  By way of example, you can run 3 different JVMs at the same time... or two versions of Microsoft office.  Each app runs locally with its own registry and DLL files. Cooool stuff.

http://www.softricity.com/products/index.asp

I have no relation to the company but this is exciting technology for large enterprises.

[shmokes]

I don't know, I kinda think Citrix is pretty fantastic.  I don't find that end users have a problem understanding it.  They just double-click the icon on the desktop and the application runs (of course it is being run on a remote machine, but they can't tell the difference). 

The State of Utah uses it for it's vital records database, so any health department in the state that has internet access can connect and run Oliver (the application for recording and printing birth certificate's and such) over a secure, encrypted, connection.  Seems to work like a champ.  Extraordinarily fast, even though there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of people logged into it simultaneously throughout the state.  Much faster than a web-based application would be.  It also gives two-way access, so when someone is logged in, administrators can gain PC Anywhere-like capabilities with the end-user which is very useful for troubleshooting.

[Effayy]

I use Citrix daily...  I hate it personally, but I think that has more to do with the way it's implemented at the office.  I get booted from the server regularly (twice a day, maybe), and it's usually at the more inconvenient times.

- FA

[shmokes]

Yeah...it's rock solid here.  I have about 10 or 11 users in 6 different offices connecting to the same server over WAN and internet (dialup and various forms of broadband) and there are hardly ever problems.  I don't implement the system....I only work on the client end.