I keep wating for clients to begin using thin client technology in droves. You know, eliminate the expensive (relatively) desktop computer with processor, hard drive, etc., for all but a few power users who need the extra "oomph.."
Microsoft's adjustment in licensing allows Vista to run centralized in a "virtual" enviroment and hardware OEMs to ship diskless PCs with just enough power to connect to a session and run the graphics locally. Great concept.
It's the office joke here that we had to give one of our salespeople a thin client because she broke two previous PCs. Actually, she collected so much nastyware (spyware, malware, etc.) that we gave her a thin client. There are a few issues occasionally, but for the most part it's been a good thing. We've not had to reformat a hard drive in her computer since then...there's not one. The machien she's running on is four or five years old, but it runs the software she needs as well as any computer in the office (and as fast).
Take a look at "virtual" computers (thin clients, to be precise) the next time you need to expand your office. You might also consider this type of arrangement if your computers are getting old. Speed them up by adding a single power server rather than 10 or 12 new PCs.
This technique also gives you more control over the configuration of the computers and the ability to do upgrades centrally and once.
Microsoft Changes Vista Licensing to Cover New Deployment Models
