“I just read a press release announcing a Linux alternative to
Microsoft’s Multipoint server. Basically the concept is that up to
ten PCs can USB-into the server and act as plug and play
thin-clients.“The advantage of this set up is that the workstation PCs can be
of varied origins and vintage and only the server will need any
TLC. In other words, cheap, reliable, easy to set up computing.“The advantage of a Linux version of MS Multipoint is that by
using free open source software, cheap got cheaper. The press
release emphasised the cost savings of Linux and how poor people
would benefit children in African schools or something like this
(as long as they had power). The problem however is the usual one,
being poor sucks. Sharing a PC is like sharing a bed with a
sibling, you long for your own.”