Just to pick one point here:

On Friday 24 October 2003 10:15 am, Daniel Matthis wrote:

> ... look at what some of the universities are doing to increase
> terminal (computer) access by using Linux for the workstations instead
> of spending $200+ per terminal for Windows. 

Ok, you're talking licenses here, right?  The hardware that an XWindows 
display requires is either more limited production than a desktop PC, and 
therefore more expensive, or if PC based is at the very least the equivalent 
of a basic Windows workstation.  Yes, you eliminate the hard drive.  You 
still need most of the RAM, most of the processor, and a good video card.

As an example, and an example of the inneficiency of XWindows, I recently 
upgraded my system from a 500MHz, 312M system with a 16M video card to a 
1200MHz, 512M and Radeon 8000.  Performance of KDE on the new hardware is 
roughly equivalent to performance of Windows95 on the old - roughly a 3x 
hardware factor.