A short history of simple workstations and application storage boxes.

The idea behind Thin Clients is to connect a bigger computer, lately called a server to a simpler device where the user is.  There have been changes in the complexity of the remote, simpler device, but overall the idea has a history now nearing half of computing history. 

In fact the first, primitive versions of so called Thin Clients and Application Servers came in about 1964, the same year as the Beatles. 

• 1964:  About 1964 Dartmouth College launched the  Dartmouth Time Share System, DTSS, which allowed early modems to connect to a very simple device, a teletype (ASR 33 comes to mind) to run programs.  This was a very early, and likely the first successfull, remote computing system.  THe vision was Dr. John G. Kemmeny's, violinist, elegant mathematician, teacher and humanist.
  
  
• 1970: By 1970 IBM had remote terminals that couled be placed anywhere as did most manufacturers, the Hazeltine 2000 introduced an inexpensive terminal.  In networking AT&T/Mitre had a primtive internet working, IBM was starting the SUN Network, DEC was starting DecNet to name three of the successful networks of the era.
  
  The idea of remote computing was firmly established.
  
  
• 1985: PC-LANs, Local Area Networking for PCs, was in its infancy.  Inexpensive PCs could be hooked together to run programs on other PCs.
  
  There is an important aspect of PC-LANs in the late 1980's, if a program, such as Word, was installed on another PC acting as a server, any PC could run the program.  Even a simple one with only DOS and no applications on the remote sysem.  With a little fiddling of files one could have two hundred or so users running one copy of a program.
  
  All features of modern Thin Clients and Application Servers were working fine in the late 1980's. Well, there was not much for multimedia or networking in the late 1980's, but what there was such as graphics, word processing, data base applications, . . ., ran just fine.
  
  One installation, one to maintain, one to trouble shoot.  It was a vast improvement in efficiency and effectiveness compared to loading all applications everywhere.
  
  
• 1990:  Although there were people who did not fully license, almost all ran aftermarket license counters so that, for example, only ten copies of Word could be run at one time if that was what was allowed.
  
  
• 1995: Microsoft slowly got news of this vast technological improvement  advance and through extensive development destroyed remote computing unless complex and burdensome licensing requirements were satisfied.
  
  A clear victory of technology being used to destroy effciency and effectiveness — attacking productivity.
  
  
• 2000:  Easy and fully functional remote computing on simple workstations is invented once again with the Linux Terminal Server Project, LTSP. 
  
  LTSP allows applications to be run from a server.  Jeez, have we heard that one before?
  
  This does not in any way take away from the efforts or intelligence of the LTSP designers and implementors, they had to do a lot of work to implement remote computing in an era of ubiquitous multimedia, remote storage devices, and a vast number of display graphics "standards".  Bravo LTSP.
  
  LTSP allows the huge efficiencies and ease of use of the 1980's PC-LANs — one system for applicaitons installation, one syustem to update and manage, one computer to secure from viruses, spyware and worms.
  
  
• 2003: Microsoft learns faster this time and recognizes that client/server applications on Linux are so easy and effective that they'd better respond and there is a version of 2003 server that allows applications to be run.
  
  By 2003 we now have all the power, convenience anf productivity improvements of 1985 PC-LANs back again, even rom Microsoft, if you pay through the nose for the capabilities they have blocked for so long.
  
  
• 2006: LTSP application servers are so easy to install one can take all the defaults and configure one in twenty minutes.  Linux based thin clients are available for about $250, and they require almost zero annual maintenance, upgrades and management, not like a PC running XP.