When you start looking at client-server architectures, you start to get at some radical reductions in the cost of ownership, and that can mean more money for training. Whether the client side is a handheld or a larger box with a screen and keyboard, it can be used right in the schoolroom instead of being relegated to the school library or computer lab, many specialists contend. In just the same way, mobile clients can be toted home. Whether client-server model or PCs, the nation's schools clearly have a way to go in moving technology into the classroom, which is what parents are asking for in increasing numbers. Till now, however, there's been good reason for school districts to overlook the possibilities of the client-server model.
Many observers contend that the time is right for bringing client technology into the classroom.
President Bush has made education his first agenda item, and nearly every parent acknowledges that understanding computers will be critical for their children in the future. That creates a potentially huge market for companies that make different types of client-server systems. Yet observers say it won't be easy to overcome the inertia that keeps schools stuck with the desktops they already know. There are roughly 1,800 school districts in the United States, each acting as an autonomous buying agency. Many are unsophisticated when it comes to technology, so they tend to buy what salespeople offer.