Dumb terminals make a lot of sense from a support standpoint, but people want to be able to personalize things, run extra software that they won't be able to install on the host server, etc. They were talking about terminals making a comeback ten years ago but I haven't seen it happen. Cloud computing is moving the data off the PC, but until they set up host servers that aren't so locked down that the users complain I don't see the PC going anywhere.
I know that's why they always rejected my idea of dumb terminals. The users want their chat, social media apps, and all sorts of stuff running. The dumb terminal is not very personal but they sure are easy to take care of!!!!!!
Virtual machines have been around for a long time now, and if you screw it up you can just restore the original image. Someone who keeps screwing up their copy should then be sat down to explain why there are things they should not be doing with company resources. So in theory they could have their cake and eat it too: set up VM farms where each user has their own unique copy to customize to their heart's content.
Go for it! Most of the processing for business applications is on the server level not at the desktop. The desktops (if used correctly) just provide a front end for the applications with a user interface. Any file that is important to the company should always be put on a storage array or nas device for security and recovery rather than the pc or laptop. So mount up some storage. The terminal is the perfect solution for you vmware, xen, and citrix environment and decreases total support cost. Of course there will be that one administrative assistant who needs that one program (Itunes and photo editor) that needs to have a supper powerful laptop to listen to her music and adjust the colors on her daughters weeding pictures. Then she complains to the SVP, and he complains to the directors and soon everybody in the company are using desktops again.
That is where they get ya. But terminals are still a good idea in this day and age. Even now my computer is just sitting here, running a web interface, and not much else.
Edit: By the way I am not in hardware sales. I just always liked the idea of terminals for support cost reduction.
Well, given the nature of the company we're very big into maps. I just built a new PC for one of my users with a 4GB video card to deal with the map software she uses. We could theoretically expand the amount of RAM available to users who have a valid business reason for it, but for the average user a standard image should suffice.
I meet with my boss next week, we'll see what she thinks as a long term solution.
I am going to bring it up with the support teams director the next time I see him, he will probably tell me to shut up. I did user support for years but my job now is not necessarily dealing with user support. There are always one off type software that will need a beefy desktop, we do a lot of video, photo, and movie editing in some departments and there is no way those users could use a terminal even though the majority of final processing is on a beefy server. Your maps software may need a beefy computer or you may be able to fit the specs into vmware and get a decent solution. But for users who are just viewing and updating data on a database, they really don't need all that much power they just need a stable and relatively fast network connection.
Edit: Here is another scenario that I am suprised I didn't add to the post already. In our company every user wants a Mac rather than a pc. The company will buy them a mac desktop or laptop. But most of the software we use in only Windows compatible. So the support team creates a virtual workstation in the VMware farm so they can rdp to it and get their work done. Most of the IT department users have this set up for them also, so the Mac computer is just siting there doing nothing while the real work is being performed in the vmware environment. It doesn't make to much sense to me.
Dumb terminals make a lot of sense from a support standpoint, but people want to be able to personalize things, run extra software that they won't be able to install on the host server, etc. They were talking about terminals making a comeback ten years ago but I haven't seen it happen. Cloud computing is moving the data off the PC, but until they set up host servers that aren't so locked down that the users complain I don't see the PC going anywhere.
I know that's why they always rejected my idea of dumb terminals. The users want their chat, social media apps, and all sorts of stuff running. The dumb terminal is not very personal but they sure are easy to take care of!!!!!!
Virtual machines have been around for a long time now, and if you screw it up you can just restore the original image. Someone who keeps screwing up their copy should then be sat down to explain why there are things they should not be doing with company resources. So in theory they could have their cake and eat it too: set up VM farms where each user has their own unique copy to customize to their heart's content.
Hmm...maybe it's time to talk to my boss. ;)
Go for it! Most of the processing for business applications is on the server level not at the desktop. The desktops (if used correctly) just provide a front end for the applications with a user interface. Any file that is important to the company should always be put on a storage array or nas device for security and recovery rather than the pc or laptop. So mount up some storage. The terminal is the perfect solution for you vmware, xen, and citrix environment and decreases total support cost. Of course there will be that one administrative assistant who needs that one program (Itunes and photo editor) that needs to have a supper powerful laptop to listen to her music and adjust the colors on her daughters weeding pictures. Then she complains to the SVP, and he complains to the directors and soon everybody in the company are using desktops again.
That is where they get ya. But terminals are still a good idea in this day and age. Even now my computer is just sitting here, running a web interface, and not much else.
Edit: By the way I am not in hardware sales. I just always liked the idea of terminals for support cost reduction.
Well, given the nature of the company we're very big into maps. I just built a new PC for one of my users with a 4GB video card to deal with the map software she uses. We could theoretically expand the amount of RAM available to users who have a valid business reason for it, but for the average user a standard image should suffice.
I meet with my boss next week, we'll see what she thinks as a long term solution.
I am going to bring it up with the support teams director the next time I see him, he will probably tell me to shut up. I did user support for years but my job now is not necessarily dealing with user support. There are always one off type software that will need a beefy desktop, we do a lot of video, photo, and movie editing in some departments and there is no way those users could use a terminal even though the majority of final processing is on a beefy server. Your maps software may need a beefy computer or you may be able to fit the specs into vmware and get a decent solution. But for users who are just viewing and updating data on a database, they really don't need all that much power they just need a stable and relatively fast network connection.
Edit: Here is another scenario that I am suprised I didn't add to the post already. In our company every user wants a Mac rather than a pc. The company will buy them a mac desktop or laptop. But most of the software we use in only Windows compatible. So the support team creates a virtual workstation in the VMware farm so they can rdp to it and get their work done. Most of the IT department users have this set up for them also, so the Mac computer is just siting there doing nothing while the real work is being performed in the vmware environment. It doesn't make to much sense to me.
And that's why she didn't finish college. ;-P
LOL. My tieping skills.