So, we left off last week talking about the odd and offensive computer lingo in the Information Technology world.  Let’s see, what is a thin, dumb, and fat client?”  I am going to share the differences but first, I must share a couple true stories…

I have worked in the H/R field for many years – over 20+ years in fact.  And during this time, I’ve heard just about everything one could imagine, or so I thought.  One day, one of my managers came to me with termination papers in hand for one of her newer employees.  Apparently, this employee was very slow and seemed to lack motivation to get through the productivity requirements needed in her position even though she was well aware of the job requirements.   That afternoon, the manager and employee came into my office where the discussion about being terminated took place.  In the most forthright and honest tone possible, the employee said, “Can I just say that it’s not my fault I don’t get my work done, just ask Joe, our IT guy.  He says I have a dumb terminal.”  In another story, I had a very angry employee file and ER (Employee Relations) complaint against our IT department.  Apparently, the employee overheard the IT Manager talking with one of our department heads about, “…not having enough thin clients for our department…”  She was furious about this insensitive comment and cited in her complaint that she felt the comment was directed towards her since she was overweight and feared losing her job.  Who came up with this nonsensical jargon anyway?  For woman across the country, I have to agree that these terms can be offensive!

Now, back to what it means to be a thin, dumb, or fat client.  In a traditional “fat-client” computing environment, all of the programs are stored on a local machine – such as a desktop or laptop – and files are stored on a central server drive. Whenever someone wants to work with a file, they must download the file to the local machine, edit the file, and then send the file back. The “thin client & dumb terminal” model is different in the sense that the file remains on the centralized server, along with all of the programs and operating systems needed to modify them. The end-user transmits mouse, audio and keyboard data to the server, and the screenshots from the remote desktop are streamed live from the remote “terminal server”.  Got all that?

Okay, so we now know it wasn’t a woman who came up with these ‘computer terms.’   Any ideas on what we call the thin, fat, and dumb terminal servers as we know them today?  Maybe we keep it simple and say, “small vs. thin, not-so-small vs. fat, and simple-minded vs. dumb.”  Let me know your thoughts!  Until next week…thanks for reading.