Q&A, Part 2: IBM's Steve Mills on security, thin clients - Computerworld

Q&A, Part 2: IBM's Steve Mills on security, thin clients - Computerworld "Is IBM doing anything at all to offer alternatives to the Windows desktop? Thin clients, yes -- we have a big portal initiative. We recommend to customers every day that they try to move the maximum number of users in their organization to a portal-based environment -- business workers, branch people, clerical people, plant-floor people. How many of your people need Office? The lowest number I've ever heard for thick client support is $5,000 per user per year -- $5,000 to $12,000 [per year in support cost], that's kind of the spectrum. The big cost savings is not in getting off Microsoft Office and going to StarOffice; the big cost savings is, Can I get to a thin client? The cost of the client is tied up in the labor, not in the cost of the client box or the software that runs on it."