i’ve been reading larry ellison’s sort of biography – “softwar”. it’s quite good and i have to give credit to ellison for having the insight to not believe in the traditional client/server model. what’s meant by this is – some file/print servers in the background with fat clients rolled out to the public. i agree with him completely on that concept. that model is a failure. why? well look at the modern era where in a workplace PCs are literally everywhere. an organization can easily have over a thousand PCs to manage. important software has crept out onto the desktops away from centralized server management. and malware is a epidemic on windows PCs.

so in other words it’s out of control. managing this type of environment involves a lot of manual legwork and more personnel. it’s really ridiculous when you think about it. you have to invest a fortune in anti-virus/anti-spyware solutions to protect fat clients. you have to lock down local policies also for protection (and thus almost make the PC more thin client-like). so how does this situation get rectified?

as ellison says basically everything that’s possible to turn into a web-app, do so. agreed. what’s next? with virtualization in the data center becoming a proven concept. i think computing will start shifting back to a thin client-ish model. units that tie into a vmware infrastructure like the panologic stuff are the future. that equipment is definitely a step in the right direction. one step further though, incorporate linux. linux will be around no matter what. there is no vendor lockin.

i seriously think there will be a shift at some point. the 90’s thru mid 2000’s demonstrated IT growth and spending that seemed unstoppable. now i think people will start becoming somewhat conservative again.

totally unrelated but another good point made by ellison. people’s natural resistance to change, and often for no good reason. i’ve experienced this myself…trying to introduce a new product or concept..and all you get is moans and complaints. you’re basically all alone in an attempt to actually improve things. so ellison’s take is..make them write it down on paper. as in the current processes and procedures and why the introduction of something new simply can’t work. people are lazy and probably won’t put any effort into writing such a document, but besides that they will be forced to write down the current procedure. and that no doubt will have the flaws glaring for everyone to see. ellison also mentions don’t let these discussions make it to a meeting. sometimes people can _somehow_ make their point just by tone, body language, and constant whining. even though they aren’t arguing with any real substance. so, something i will remember now…make them put it in writing.