Putting The Thin Into Thin Clients!

These days, thin clients are not really news. Whether the clients are running Windows or Linux, the market is anyone’s ball game at this point. Well, that is until I found this: the Jack PC. As the wow factor goes, this device had me from this moment on…

They can be powered either through a plug on the front or, ideally, using Power over Ethernet (PoE). PoE means the unit is powered over existing structured network cabling from a suitable PoE switch or PoE power injector.

I am not any expert on PoE, but I will tell you this - the concept just sounds cool! That and having your “computer” access available from the wall is just awesome, regardless of which OS you happen to be running with.

So which operating systems is it currently running with at this point? Windows CE. Honestly, I could live with that, however after learning that it provides IE 6, not something that is actually less crap-tacular like IE 7 or Firefox, I found myself becoming less interested.

Then I located the company that created the hardware in the first place. Not being US based, it is obvious to me that they allow their partners to choose which OS belongs on the units they plan on selling and supporting. I see this as a good thing as it will hopefully inspire others from the thin client marketplace to rise up and offer units with something a little more comprehensive than IE 6! While using a thin client certainly helps to alleviate the fear of using the most dangerous browser I have ever used, it is still bothersome as IE 6 is so limited in comparison to Opera, IE 7 or Firefox.

What do you think? Would you feel good about deploying more IE 6 browser usage?