It's
been a couple of years since I looked at this for replacing some old Internet
PCs with thin clients. But after some testing with thin clients, I decided
against going that route at least for Internet computers. The main problems
were inconsistent support for USB devices and poor support for streaming
audio and video. Even a couple of years ago, I saw those as deal-breakers for
our patrons. I would think that would be even more so today with the
proliferation of patrons using USB devices and the large amount
of online content viewed through sites like Youtube, etc. I also
was facing the prospect of getting this to work with our third-party print and
time management system (SAM from Comprise).
I did end up using thin clients to replace my OPAC
computers and it has worked well for that application. But even with Cisco
switches, Gigabit network cards on the servers and CAT 5e cabling, there's still
some lag browsing on the OPACs compared to the same experience on a PC. I
suspect that difference would be magnified on a PC.
I haven't priced out a thin client solution recently
but off the top of my head, your costs would include:
- Server hardware and Windows 2003/2008 server licenses
- Client Access Licenses - 1 per each device using the
server
- Terminal Services Client Access Licenses - 1 per each
device using the server for Terminal Services
- Thin client devices (which don't provide the same
cost break as they used to compared to low-end PCs suitable for use
as Internet computers)
As a public
library, you should be able to get low-cost pricing on licenses from Microsoft
through Tech Soup.
If maintaining the PCs is the big problem, what areas
in particular are you having problems with that you see the thin client solution
solving? We use Group Policy to lock down our PCs but a solution like DeepFreeze
or Windows Steady State can provide an even higher level of protection against
PC problems.
Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public
Library
Waterford, MI
