InfoWorld has a report on thin clients:
Since they first began to replace dumb terminals in the late 90s, thin clients have always been niche machines in industries like healthcare, banking, education, and city government. Some are ultrathin with no OS at all, which exchange data with servers via an ICA or RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) client. Others are merely thin, sporting a firmware-based embedded OS like Windows CE or XP and a browser. A few are even ordinary desktops, stripped of local storage that use custom boot software or a terminal emulator. Although thin clients account for less than 1 percent of todays desktop machines, theyre growing twice as fast as PCs and may account for 10 percent of all enterprise systems by 2008, according to IDC.
The reason? Like Neumaier, IT managers have discovered that thin clients give them greater security with far less hassle.
