[K12OSN] local devices - PCMCIA

[Rob Owens]

On Wed, May 16, 2007 at 06:36:09PM -0500, Peter Scheie wrote:
> Why do your users want to use the local drives for storage?  The whole 
> point of thin clients is that everything is stored on the server so the 
> admin (you) only have to worry about one machine, and the users can 
> login on any client and have their files be present.  The Windows/Mac 
> "everyone has a full computer system" paradigm is a terrible 
> architecture in this respect, wasteful, and expensive.  What is it the 
> users think using the local disk will do for them?

I think it's the idea that the local hard drive gets locked up in their
office at night, so they think it's more secure for their private files.
In a way they're right.  I could read anything I want to that's on the
server (with root / administrator rights), but I'd have a hard time
accessing a hard drive that's in a locked office.  Not that they're
trying to protect their data from me, but they understand lock-and-key
security better than network security.

-Rob