Kurt writes: >The point is to get the last usable life out of obsolete equipment.
In that respect, if the machines are still running, an RDP client could point to Microsoft TS, or an ICA to Citrix. Citrix is better for bigger farms or wimpy WAN connections (think dial-up). That'd give you full access to real MS Office or other applications on your TS. (Though watch your group policies carefully! don't give them access to the C: drive or ShutDown, etc.) You can specify whether they get just a desktop or just a specific program, depending on how you set up your client. But if you could live with OpenOffice, you would have absolutely NO CALs if you did Linux TS, ala NoMachine. That is, instead of a Microsoft Server 2003 with server license and CALS, plus Terminal Server CALs, and then XYZ copies of MS Office 2003--gotta license the same nuimber you run as TS clients, though you install only once) ... you could install a NoMachine server appliance and have NO CALs. --------- If/when your machines die harder, then you could do Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP). We have two mini labs of LTSP. One beefy linux box with a printer, and resurrected PCs (literally taken off the floor of the shop!). They PXE or Etherboot from an image of linux on the beefy machine. So you'd get yet MORE life from those old machines - no hard drive is necessary, just a solid NIC and Graphics card. The user is on a linux desktop for free--Internet, OpenOffice, and file/print with access to their home folder. Or to stretch the concept, add an TS client and they get a Terminal Desktop or application. Steve Scarbrough --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus on the server aea8.k12.ia.us] --------------------------------------------------------- Archived messages from this list can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/info-tech@aea8.k12.ia.us/ ---------------------------------------------------------
