Is there a need for the virtual student desktop?

http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1437

I have yet to receive any guest blogs specifically about educational technology since we opened up several of our columns to guest submissions. I thought it might bring some folks out of the woodwork, though, if I suggested a specific topic. Server virtualization is something with which I have very little experience and, until recently, has been too expensive for much of the ed tech market. However, as technologies mature and costs come down, virtualization seems to be a viable means for server consolidation and cost savings, both in terms of hardware and energy consumption.

I remember school with fond memories, back then we were using Windows 3.11 with 486s running Windows remotely over the network, it wasn’t very fast, but it worked. I wonder as thin client technologies improve, as we evolve what we can do with less, whether virtual desktops, or running the pc from a shared image will be the way forward. It will be interesting to see in what directions the technology will be used to serve the student, to enhance the learning process - will we have published applications without the desktop? Will everything be online based? Can we abstract the desktop from the student?

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