Microsoft is readying two stripped-down versions of Windows for thin client computers. The idea is that people will use the new versions to resurrect older PCs, according to reports.
Microsoft stripping Windows for thin clients
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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cutting down XP……..
why not have a cut down win2k base with an NX client onto the servers ?
because it isn’t trendy anymore (posting from it btw)
Because XP is better than 2K, and because a cut-down XP is basically like a cut-down 2K anyway.
Why would Microsoft want to jump back to the 2K code and have to maintain that actively again?
When Longhorn comes out, my AMD 3000+ with 700MB of RAM will be an “old computer.”
(You could take this two different ways. You choose.)
a version of windows with all the bloat stripped out. if i am able to install normal software in it this stands to be the most perfect version of windows too date…
Am I the only one who thinks this could be pretty sweet? As an Admin in a public Highschool, the idea of a lab full of donated off-lease dells running from an application server on my desk and fully under my control sounds nice to me.
(and yes ,there is the K-12 Linux thin-client project, but until there is photoshop for linux, it’s still a no go)
Well, if you want, you can run the linux rdesktop client on the workstations, which would give you the Windows desktop, without the client licence costs.
Don’t they have an XP for Thin Clients already called XPe? HP uses it as do others for their Thin Client offerings.
It is about time the have a CD bootable windows client that simply does explorer and RDP. No installing apps no local disks. This would save many customers a lot of money.
The true solution to use old PCs as cheap thin-terminals is to use a linux solution like LTSP, Thinstation or many others.
You can even use hd-less PCs, booting from floppy, CDROM or network adapters/motherboards with ROM/PXE, then use tftp to download linux kernel and ramdisk.
Within thin-client you can run remote X applications and even windows applications on an windows terminal server using rdesktop.
I use this solution with success and recomend to everyone who don’t want to be obliged to upgrade hardware whem M$ wants.
Am I the only one who thinks this could be pretty sweet? As an Admin in a public Highschool, the idea of a lab full of donated off-lease dells running from an application server on my desk and fully under my control sounds nice to me.
(and yes ,there is the K-12 Linux thin-client project, but until there is photoshop for linux, it’s still a no go)
You can do that now using Citrix/MSW2003 on the server and Linux with the ICA client on the desktop side. RDP sucks Secure ICA is the ticket.
I would love to have a version of windows geared just for playing games. I would move all my other tasks that i use my PC for now(Email Web Browsing etc..) over to a Mac.
>(and yes ,there is the K-12 Linux thin-client project, but
>until there is photoshop for linux, it’s still a no
Several versions of Photoshop and Illustrator work well in WINE or Codeweaver’s CrossOver.
> Several versions of Photoshop and Illustrator work well in WINE or Codeweaver’s CrossOver.
haha. you must be joking! Under CrossOver PS CS (8.0) won’t even start up (at least without heavy tweaking)… 7.0 is *really* buggy.
Get rid of the crap and give us an operating system. At the moment MS and everyone else tries to give us a computing experiance which totally sucks. Maybe they could do this, sell the base OS for cheap and then allow for consumers to download any fluff from the web and pay for the different bits of fluff as they choose.
Nah, that could happen could it? Freedom of choice? Would be too Linux like.
bart pe doesnt have a time bomb anymore. ive had a pc running bart pe + some apps for over a week before i shut it down.
(and yes ,there is the K-12 Linux thin-client project, but until there is photoshop for linux, it’s still a no go)
We’re talking about high school, not professional print shops. Gimp is more than enough for this market, it’ll be a lot cheaper (what, with Linux savings too) and the functionalities and interface are similar enough with Photoshop that skills learned with one translate well on the other.
In other words, the Linux thin-client projects are already there, and guaranteed cheaper.
Zet
Under CrossOver PS CS (8.0) won’t even start up (at least without heavy tweaking)…
That’s why he said “several versions”, not “all versions.
7.0 is *really* buggy.
Works fine here (Crossover Office).
Dang straight! Why is a Highscool insisting on shelling out $xxxxx/seat for Photoshop? Is it being used in thr Computer Aided Design/Art lessons?
For “everyday” use, The GIMP is fine, or Sodipodi. Or PaintShopPro, or even PaintXP.
I dont; see why everyone NEEDS to have the latest, biggest feature-filled (read: bloated) software, just to justify buying a new, superfast RAM-filled 3.5GHz PC, just to read email and manipulate clip-art.
My 1GHZ PC runs everything fine, except games.
Well, I just had time to test out the thin-client thing on my personal linux and a desktop machine, unlike all those vnc, rdesktop, even NX, the environment is actually loaded locally, so you don’t see any slowness of the network response.
But I suggest you shouldn’t go with rdesktop to run Photoshop uber version (if your highschool class really needs it…), I’m sure you get flamed by students having the app run very slow and they can’t use the brush as smooth as it should go. If you need Windows apps, you better off running it somehow local (be it emulator or port or vitual pc whatever)
getting off topic here with the photoshop vs. gimp thing…but to be honest as an amateur artist who has used photoshop for years I now prefer Gimp it’s not b/c “im stuck with linux”, i actually run it in windows.
There are a couple of reasons for photoshop. First, the classes count as “vocational” training, and photoshop is the most likely to be used package in the business world.
The versions we use are quite old, but still servicable, so we would have a hard time justifying a switch.
Lastly, there are handycapped students in the classes. Around here, “gimp” is a slur towards the handycapped. I really wish they would change the name….