Thin clients face Web barrier

By John Cox
Network World, 7/6/98

Running remote Windows applications from a browser is one of the most appealing qualities of Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition (TSE). Theoretically, companies could let not just employees, but also business partners and customers, access applications on TSE servers through browsers.

But the problem is every single user who wants to access TSE applications must pay for a $269 Windows NT 4.0 Workstation license and a $39 Client Access License (CAL). If you want to let business partners, customers or other "anonymous users," access your TSE applications over the Internet, you'll have to pay these fees for each person.

That could add up to a ton of money. Even based on discounted fees, adding 100 Internet users is $26,900; adding 1,000 users is $269,900. And you will also need Citrix Systems, Inc.'s MetaFrame tool to make it all work, although this software is priced concurrently. That means 100 different users could access TSE with, perhaps, 25 MetaFrame licenses, depending on how often and how long they access it. MetaFrame's suggested retail price for 15 users is $4,995.

"If you have to run your application as an NT 4.0 application, this licensing can become a big issue," said Bill Botti, president of Computer Networks, Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif., systems integrator specializing in Windows thin-client networks. "You'll have to pay a huge amount of money."

Although money is an issue, what really gets some MIS managers worked up is a licensing approach that seems jarringly at odds with the ease of access that's a hallmark of the World Wide Web. "We give out client access [to TSE servers] to users on our network," said Roy Patterson, coordinator for new technology products at Shell Canada, Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta. "But if they later dial in from home working through a Web browser, this is a technical violation of the license. To let these users do that, you have to add still more licenses [for the home-based PCs]."

The situation is not just expensive but complicated as well. "[Microsoft Corp.] should make this a lot easier for us to deal with," Patterson said. "Microsoft today has no means and no tools to help a manager achieve compliance."

Microsoft agrees there's a problem.

"We absolutely see the need for some kind of Internet commercial use license for Terminal Server - for applications where customers are using it to publish applications," said John Frederiksen, TSE program manager. "In those cases, tracking [TSE] on a per-user basis doesn't make sense."

But Frederiksen gave no hint as to when such an Internet licensing scheme would be available. "We'll come up with a policy that's consistent across all the Microsoft server products, such as SQL Server, regular NT Server and Exchange Server," he said. "I can't commit to a timeline on this, but we've been discussing it since the spring [of 1998]." Currently, Microsoft has no consistent Internet licensing policy.