Thin clients

"The use of thin clients (for server-based computing) is the way of the future: the not-so-distant future." So Jake Shores bodly proclaims in his excellent series of articles about thin client computing in the small business environment (part one of which can be read here).

Jake is not the first to make such a claim. In the mid-90's, Oracle CEO Larry Elison stated, "The era of the PC is almost over, and the era of the thin client is about to begin." He was wrong. PCs have continued to dominate while thin clients have captured only a relatively small share of the market.

So, has Jake got it right? Has the era of the thin client finally arrived? Will they at last begin to replace PCs? Or will his prediction end up being added to this list?

• "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."  --Ken Olson, President, Chairman, and Founder of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977
• "We don’t like their sound. We don’t think they will do anything in their market. Guitar groups are on their way out."  --Decca Recording Co., declining to sign the Beatles, 1962
• "Television won’t last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."  --Darryl Zanuck, 1946
• "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."  --Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, 1904
• "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."  --Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1895

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