FHCTO

Agreed, my friend. Multipoint is the easiest to license. VECD has just been replaced. I haven't seen the licensing yet, but for schools it is really cheap and much easier than VECD. It is almost exactly the same as MS School/Campus licensing. I think it is called VDA... Not sure, and I might be confused, but I think that is what it is...

As a point of reference, I am the CTO and inventor of Fiddlehead. 1) Fiddlehead was designed to be a virtual machine so licensing is just as legal as any VMWare or XenDesktop installation. 2) The same virtual licensing applies, unlike the old version of nComputing. 3) Since it is a VM, Windows 7 runs just fine, as does any X86 OS. 4) Because it is a non-emulated VM it is very efficient and therefore runs very quickly. CAD software will run just fine...just like any other PC, it may require a 3D compatible video card. 5) 4GB with a quad core runs 4 users very well. CAD may not run well with that much RAM shared by 4 users, but the 64 bit host OS allows a lot more RAM to be installed. If any of you are interested, please feel free to join my LinkedIn group at MultiSeat for Education group | LinkedIn . It is a great place to meet educational multiseat users. Dave

I agree regarding carefully controlling the number of users and matching them to the number of cores. Google the term "multisegment, backplanes". You can cost effectively build a 32 or 48 core "server", and then combine that with KVM over cat5 and get a bunch of "real" PC's, as long as you are using native video transmission. That is the important part. You must not reduce your video to IP traffic like thin clients or the L series nComputing product does.

Profuse apologies for attempted selling and apologies to tmcd35. No more of that from me. I am not an expert on security and was just parroting what I heard from several large school districts regarding server software being put in the hands of students. They seem to be very averse to putting a server in the hands of students with server software on it. ...especially server software that can be set up as a domain. Also, below is the web site showing licensing and max number of stations. I am WRONG regarding the limit of 10. I had it turned around. That limit is not for schools, it is for everyone else. Schools have no limit AND can join the domain. Google the following: Licensing and Purchasing Options for Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 dhicks, ...30 stations does require a lot of cables, hence the typical 4 station limit on FH. ...Unless you want to go to KVM-CAT5 converters. Your mention of using KVM to CAT5 converters is correct. We put the server in the rack, and connect to an off-the-shelf 32 port KVM to Cat5 converter and use the "home" runs to extend the video. You can purchase ones that will push/pull USB on the same cable. They will extend the video and USB 1.1 (fine for our keyboards, and mice) over 1000' feet. If you want to go to USB V2.0 for use with flash drives also, one CAT5 cable will only net you around 300'. Talk about a clean installation. That gives you the capabilities of real PC performance (like a 1-1 blade that tmcd35 mentioned) but the density of server based computing. We put around 480 users per 84U rack mounted server. ...and there is nothing more than little breakout boxes on the desktop. You also mentioned Displayport. V1.2 pushes 4 users AND USB over 15Meters to a DP monitor. KVM to CAT5 converters are also available for that.

We (all of us) are in a sweet spot regarding hardware. As more and more cores come on board, our products will just get better and better. MPS 2010 is limited to 10 users, unless you have academic. Same thing with domain join. MPS will not allow the users to join the domain. MPS academic will. Not being AD aware for non-academic may seem like no big deal, until you really think about it... There are good reasons that server software is loaded on server's BEHIND locked doors. An ERD Commander disk and physical access to a machine is all I need to access administrative privileges. Who would allow that? Certainly no one in the business world. I guess Microsoft thinks the schools that would use their product don't care about security issues. I think they know that businesses would throw them out on their ear if they allowed such a blatant security flaw to be sold. I also know that schools wouldn't purchase MPS if they couldn't join the domain. ...so MS has chosen sales over security...at least in the area of schools. Sounds about right. Regarding a 4x8core and enough video outputs, it is done on Fiddlehead and we have no problem with video. The problem of 3 users not looking good like someone mentioned earlier is twofold. You are kind of right regarding IO. IO bind is important and that can be solved with SSHD's or multiple SATA drives. The real problem with MPS and more than 3-4 users is that they are using USB video cards (DisplayLink). The reason we chose to not use DisplayLink is because they are not getting enough bandwidth (132 MPBS is needed for perfect video) availability. They only have 480 MBPS per root hub. When you add in the need to seperate high speed (video) from low speed (keyboards and mice...why do you think they use PS-2 connections?), you need to have multiple root hubs, and you need to be very careful about where you plug them in. In your example of one big server, you would need 8 root hubs (most PC's only have 3, and most servers only have 1 or 2). If you didn't have 8 root hubs, you would severely limit multimedia performance. Fiddlehead's native use of video solves that problem.

Hello; I am the CTO and inventor of Fiddlehead. There are a lot of passionate users of our product. Same thing goes for nComputing, softXPand, Applica, ZeroLink, TwinPC, Pano, etc. It just goes to show how important this type of technology "could" be if it were embraced by a major manufacturer or all of us really started getting some traction. I guess MS MPS and HP are following. The comment about wanting the 10M seats that NC has sold over the past 10 years is probably spot on. There is a better way to deliver PC computing and we all believe that some sort of server based computing is it. I think it is important that we remember to sell our product for what it really is. The 2nd best thing over the past 4 years that has happened (in some ways) is that nComputing has sold lots of their product. The best thing is that MS and HP have taken notice and added credibility to this space. It has relegated nComputing to the thin client manufacturer that they are. The worst thing that has happened in the past 4 years has been that nComputing has sold their product as a PC replacement product. If they had sold it as what it truly is - an easy to implement, better thin client, we would have been farther ahead, and so would have they. The business model that the NC has followed is the same that they followed at eMachines... enough said. BTW, we have the 3D capabilities that were mentioned earlier in our soon-to-be released version (V3.0) of software and that is what vermonttechie is talking about. His mention of using the Core-I7 is aimed at power users that want 4 heads with dual core SMP capabilities. I guess if you wanted 2 users that had quad core capabilities, you could do that also.