The idea gained momentum last year when Microsoft licensed it and introduced its own version, Windows NT Server, Terminal Server Edition. Terminal Server acts as a module on the Windows NT Server 4.0 operating system, like the other modules such as the Database Server Edition. He said the market only began to move in the second half of the year, but he predicted that the U.S. market for commercial thin-client devices will grow from 650,000 units shipped in 1998 to 5.5 million units in 2000. Microsoft's introduction of Windows NT 4.0 spurred interest because customers had been waiting for the capability to use Citrix's MetaFrame software on the new operating system, rather than on NT 3.51. A lot of people postponed deployment because they wanted the 4.0 version.
End users can display and use thin client-based applications on their desktop PCs.
But because the server is doing all the work, that PC does not need to be very powerful. This provides the option of leaving old, otherwise obsolete PCs on desks well past their expiration dates, rather than buying a mint's worth of the latest Intel Corp. processor. Still, old machines can be troublesome, and the other option is to put new terminals on users' desks. These devices are designed to provide enough power to run the client software needed to display the server-based applications without complicating the terminals' simple design. In a thin-client environment, the level of computing power on each desktop may vary between end users.