Why would anyone want to use a Windows machine as a real thin client? All the speed of a thin client without any of the benefits. Security, viruses, management, breakage, patches, service packs, LICENSING, still need to run A/V, Anti-malware, Anti-spyware, theft, many moving parts, etc. etc., just to run ONE app and a horrible bug ridden browser?

No thanks.

And what part is free? XP? The loss of any OEM licensed M$ Office products that can’t legally be transferred to any other machine, virtual or not? Are you actually going to uninstall all the cruft and just leave IE7, Flash, and Citrix? If you really do dump it all, format it and reinstall XP, how many people are going to get zinged by reactivation problems? “Please call your OEM” problems. Driver issues? Loss of license keys for software that was legitimate but is now gone?

I’m all for reusing older machines, but if I was going thin client, which I will in a heartbeat when somebody gets USB 2.0 working (*really* working, not just for selected peripherals), it would be with managed real thin clients (Not XPe’s either) or Linux boxes. Building a house of cards on the deck of a sinking ship seems like a bad long term plan.

By Brad on Nov 25, 2009

Hi Trond,

Like the fact that you are thinking about re-using machines in this day and age rather than chucking them out.

I would suggest you also have a look at Microsoft steady state

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx

A free install and download for XP that allows you to create restrictions and also reverts a machine back to an initial image on restart.

Now Brad, your first question, “Why would anyone want to use XP as a thin client?” From a Citrix or MS RDP perspective, the answer is simple, features. Linux thin apps do not have the feature set of the Windows ones, plain and simple. You want to best user experience? You go Windows.

These days it is about user acceptance and providing a familiar consistent experience.

I am also surprised that you offered quite a lot of comment for someone who admits at the end of the a post that he isn’t even using a thin client solution at all…

By Damien on Nov 27, 2009

We have been very impressed with 2X – old PCs can be booted over the …network with a small footprint Linux/RDP/Citrix OS … no need for Windows on the client machine, users and access managed from a central 2X server that connects in to AD via LDAP… perfect for reusing old machines!

By Matthew on Nov 28, 2009

Been there done that, and now I work somewhere else where thin clients won’t (currently) work with our main product. This is why I say that I need USB 2.0 to work over the network, we have check scanners and full page scanners that are USB only and relatively high speed, high enough that even if we can make a virtual/tc combo even see the scanner, it chokes and dies and slows down after the 3rd document (USB 1.1 speeds).

Our customers are banks, and I would *love* to sell them a centrally managed solution, but I can’t. Back when my customers were hospitals with barcode scanners and nothing else, heck yeah! Citrix all the way! Working for a big engineering company, we used Citrix for everything, but mainly to centralize some apps and offer up others in environments that could not be stolen. ESG gateways for road warriors and home use, the works.

Now, money *is* an object, USB 2.0 still isn’t ready, and the price point for Citrix for 4-10 user shops is *WAY* too high already without doubling up on MS licenses (XP/TS-CAL/Citrix CAL) for full XP clients. I can’t make it go, and no one has shown me anything that can move the silly scanner any further than the max USB cable length from the server.

The PC-over-IP stuff will probably work, but the price point is too high (full PC + more hardware to make it IP) unless they are completely security obsessed, which many banks are not (Scary!).

Thin clients are great, but the security and patches etc. for maintaining a full XP client just for that makes me twitch. “The Best User Experience is Windows”, I just can’t bring myself to be ok with that. I haven’t had a good experience with Windows in years, it’s a total minefield in hostile territory. Sorry.

Citrix and VMWare are missing a boat by not making Linux clients. M$ must have made a field trip to Palo Alto and Ft. Lauderdale to emphasize how much they didn’t like their pseudo-partners even thinking about Linux, since they are already looking the other way on licensing. Gad, the licensing, another ulcer.

And, yes, I even built a 286 with DOS and ICA DOS. It worked, but it wouldn’t win any speed records.

By Brad on Dec 4, 2009

It would be nice to see a version designed for Citrix independent of VMware View.

Thank you, Tom

By Tom on Dec 22, 2009

Also, info on setting this up with IE 8.x would be very much appreciated.

Thank you, Tom

By Tom on Dec 22, 2009

First great article, second a quick question.

How are you getting the xenapp webinterface not to ask for the domain name where it is autopopulated? We are currently having that problem with deployment, and really haven’t had alot of great sucess with it…

Thanks,

James Briggs

By james briggs on Mar 3, 2010

Turn old PC into Thin Client for Free – Version 1.1

Wheer do I download???

By SKIP on Mar 6, 2010

thanks its amazing how many times I passed over it, and never saw it…

By james briggs on Mar 8, 2010