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Terminal / Server Computing under Microsoft Windows

There have been a number of attempts to introduce terminal / server technology to groups of Microsoft Windows users using technologies such as Citrix, Microsoft Terminal Server, etc. However, these have suffered from the restriction that Microsoft Windows was originally designed to be run on a self-contained PC. Software developers have written programs on this assumption, with the result that trying to split the operating system into a ‘server’ and ‘terminal’ has not been very satisfactory.

The Microsoft Windows operating system has also had its limitations as a multi-user server operating system.

[This is not strictly true: the Citrix technology incorporated into Windows by Microsoft has been highly successful in both creating a multi-user Windows system and adding a lightweight Thin-Client Server platform. However this solution remains exceptionally expensive when one considers Microsoft in addition to Application licencing for the many Client seats. This same expense is true of alternatives such as Tarrantella etc...]

On the other hand, Linux is an excellent platform for Terminal / Server systems.

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