Sun set on thin clients

ZDNet News ^ | April 12, 2002, 4:00 AM PT | Stephen Shankland

[Bush2000]

McNealy and Ellison just can't let this losing concept go.

Sun Microsystems will not exist within 7 years.

[Bush2000]

bump

[The Duke]

Hey, remember X-terminals? Certainly the thinnest of thin clients!

[moyden]

Liberals like Ellison crave centralized control of everything - including software.

Such is the extreme liberal obsession with collectivism.

[sinkspur]

Twenty years ago at IBM, we called the green screens "dumb tubes."

Sun's getting skunked on Web services as well.

.Net is locking up programmers quickly. I agree with your assessment: somebody will gobble up Sun just for the server business.

[B Knotts]

Obviously, PCs are going to be with us for a while, for home use.

For business use, in some situations, thin clients make more sense. PC maintenance is a money pit.

[Doug Loss]

Hey, remember X-terminals? Certainly the thinnest of thin clients!

Actually, they're still around and doing nicely. We're using Linux to convert old, low-powered PCs into XTerminals to use in schools. See Using X-Terminals In A High School and K12OS for more info. I'm sure that won't sit well with Bushie, though. It doesn't matter; we're still doing it.

[Bush2000]

...For business use, in some situations, thin clients make more sense. PC maintenance is a money pit.

Of course, that isn't how it's working out in reality. Businesses simply aren't adopting thin clients in significant numbers.

[Bush2000]

Actually, they're still around and doing nicely. We're using Linux to convert old, low-powered PCs into XTerminals to use in schools. See Using X-Terminals In A High School and K12OS for more info. I'm sure that won't sit well with Bushie, though. It doesn't matter; we're still doing it.

What could possibly make you think I care what you do with your time?

[Dead Dog]

They are a heck of a lot cheaper than the RS6000 box I'm abusing.

[PatrioticAmerican]

In some places that makes ense, hence Microsoft has Terminal Server, but, too thin a client and it becomes practically useless.

[sigSEGV]

The problem being the servers needed to support them. Most companies are using MS for their thin clients and the hardware and software on the server side is not there to support gobs of users. I run a NOC with 20 concurrent clients off of a measly 400Mhz server running a non-MS OS.

[Jack Black]

I'm happy to see them carrying on with the concept. The PC took a long time to become really useful. Without more work we'll never know if the thin client is a workable advance or not. There is a lot of overhead with PCs, doesn't every shop have PC specialists now who deal with the weird idosyncrasies of these things?

Having said that a $1000 PC does so much it's hard to see replacing it easily. For home use the hassles are worth it. For business use, especially where a PC is a single use device (airline terminal) thin clients might be a better choice.

Anybody use Star Office?

[B Knotts]

They are a heck of a lot cheaper than the RS6000 box I'm abusing.

Are they? I mean, by the time you consider the relative time spent patching, installing software, and downtime, the PC, if it is cheaper at all, isn't that much cheaper.

And, compared to a thin client, which boots off the network, it's considerably more expensive.

Don't get me wrong; I like my PC...but it is a fact that thin clients have their place, too.

[B Knotts]

Businesses simply aren't adopting thin clients in significant numbers.

I agree; they're not. The question is: will they? and should they? I'd say, in some cases, yes, and in other cases, no. Depends on the application. But they certainly do have some advantages, like simplified maintenance, at the expense of some flexibility.

[mattdono]

But, wait...wouldn't that mean that Sun is a monopoly (in the thin client market)?

My opinion, they can have it...but, I am sure that you won't hear Gates, Ballmer (or Microsoft) whining on and on about, [Stamp feet] "This isn't fair! BOO HOO! Hey, government, help us because we don't know how to build useful products that consumers find helpful! BOO HOO! BOO HOO!"

Thin Client? Wasn't this supposed to be the next big thing...in 1997?

[Bush2000]

Thin Client? Wasn't this supposed to be the next big thing...in 1997?

Yeah ... back in the days when Sun was selling hardware to dotcoms ...

[Rum Tum Tugger]

Uh...isn't this called a

mainframe!!!

Seems to me this is what we all wanted to get away from and is why PC's became so popular

20 years ago!!!

[mattdono]

Bump to your comments.

Maybe I should have said the "next big thing...in 1977!

[mattdono]

Also makes me wonder about maker of "emulators", such as Attachmate (they have the Extra! product). They must think that Sun is a bunch of A-holes.