When Windows does not make sense

This post have unfortunately been delayed - which in the end likely is a good thing.

For the once of you that know me, you know that I have always had a almost unhealthy relationship to Windows operating systems. There isn't a single one which I have not loved (well, my love for Windows Vista came very, very late - but a part from that) - and I've gone to great lengths to support and use both Windows on desktops and mobile.

Today, however, I'm writing an article about when Windows does not make sense - and where (in this case) Linux - and in particular Igel OS does.

(Disclaimer - this article is not written, supported by or sponsored by Igel - I have however received UD pockets at conferences and I have been allowed to borrow a UD3 to evaluate. To be clear, this is my honest opinion and for the better of many organizations.)

Over the last year, organizations have had to be very creative to enable remote work for many, if not all, of their employees. This has been challenging, expensive, insecure and completely new for many organizations.

I have been lucky enough to support a number of organizations on this journey - and have talked to and heard about many more.

What saddens me the most - is that so few organizations have taken to opportunity to get to the "Rethink"-phase (thank you Spencer Pits from VMWare - learn more in our panel discussion from: ComputerWorld - Define Tomorrow).

I talk to so many organizations that still are running VPN or primarily use Microsoft Endpoint Manager ConfigMgr with Cloud Management Gateway (nothing wrong with the latter - but it should be for the RIGHT purposes) and lastly - which deploys "thin" clients running Windows.

This is one of the very few use-cases where Windows just don't make sense... What makes Windows fantastic is the user experience, the flexibility, the extensibility the richness and the vast amount of locally installed applications. A lot of this - isn't at all what a REAL thin client is supposed to be - and when organizations (from the biggest hardware manufacturers, through resellers, consultants and organizations of all sizes down to SMBs and EDU) tries to make Windows into something it isn't - they do fail.

I'm sure there are a number of success stories out there where Windows have been used as thin clients together with a variety of EUC technologies - but I have a very, very hard time to see that they would have been less successful with a REAL thin client. So let's move on to the obvious question.

What is Igel and Igel OS?

Igel is a company that was founded in Germany over 20 years ago now. Some of you may know them for the physical thin clients (more on that soon), and even thought they still manufacture them, the focus is on their own thin client operating system, Igel OS.

Igel OS is a Linux based operating system - built from the ground up to be a versatile, secure and manageable operating system for thin clients. It supports most, if not every, EUC technology out there and for us in the Microsoft community it was the first Linux operating system to have official support for Windows Virtual Desktop. Igel also provides customers with management technologies in their UMS platform, allowing organizations to manage their Igel devices at scale and wherever they are used.

Igel OS is able to run either on the companies 1st party hardware - which I will mention later and in upcoming posts/articles, on their UDP1/UDP2 (basically a USB stick with Igel OS which you can boot on from any device), on ARM (just announce together with NComputing) and on basically any x86/x64 hardware you want. That enables a number or supercool scenarios, that we can dive deeper into at another time.

Best of breed and when to not force a square through a round hole

Then, to the obvious question: Why do I like Igel - and why would I even, strongly, recommend against running Windows as a thin client?

1. Windows is built for a rich, and if you like, fat client with locally installed apps. Its great for kiosk, POS, as a general purpose machine or as a workstation. It is a real shame to lock it down to something it isn't - and never was intended to be.
2. Windows requires management. Microsoft have some of the best tools for managing Windows machines out there but, since I still have a job, organizations have a very hard to using them correctly and managing Windows devices in a suitable way. And especially when it comes down to thin clients, you have very limited options.
3. Windows is, relatively, expensive and it is (again) a shame to spend that money (since you imho need to run Windows 10 Enterprise to make it secure enough) on a device that will only service you with the same kind of OS running somewhere else. Windows is also, relatively, heavy to run and the hardware of the thin client will likely not be sufficient after a while.

Again - all of this is part of what Windows is and why I never would drop it as my primary operating system on my "fat" clients.

So, since macOS have the same challenges as Windows we are left with two options Linux or ChromeOS (yes there are other operating systems as well, including iOS and Android). Honestly I have very little experience with ChromeOS - but that is because I don't really see it as an Enterprise OS for most organizations today (we will leave that for now).

Linux is then left, and out of the varieties of Linux OSes Ive experience nothing is better suited for thin clients than Igel. IgelOS is built to be a real, technology agnostic, thin client and it shows.

1. Is is very secure, and that also extends to the software running on it and the hardware you connect to it. I'm so impressed by the work Igel have done with especially its hardware partners to create a superb eco-system of hardware that ensures real end-to-end encryption, protection against keyloggers, hardware auth support, AiO devices and a lot of other cool things.
2. IgelOS is easy to manage, you can control close to every single aspect of it and it is often set-and-forget. The management extends way beyond your network and you can manage your Igel devices wherever they are. Perfect for WFH.
3. Its lightweight. I always carry around on at least one Igel UD Pocket - a memory-stick-sized thin client that is managed by Igel UMS (Universal Management Suite) and always allows me to connect you my WVD environment. You can also run IgelOS on close to any of your old x86 hardware, which can make both financial and environmental sense.

So - IgelOS is best of breed for thin clients. Windows was never built to be a thin client and it would be a shame to use it like such. Don't try to make Windows into something its not, the OS have so many other use cases where nothing gets even close.

Summary AND what is a thin client?

We are getting to the end of this lengthy post.

A thin client to me is a robust connection point to whichever EUC solution your organization is running. It should be secure, in some cases transparent to the user and allow for management by you as an administrator.

A thin client is always connected to a network (not necessarily internet, but the its the common way today) that enables it to connect to solutions from vendors like Microsoft, Citrix, VMWare, Nutanix, AWS, Parallels and many others.

A thin client is also a mindset change, a way of sorting out challenges that organizations (due to themselves, not for the lack of appropriate technologies) have failed to solve in other ways. Things like patching, remote access to advanced applications, WFH and budget cuts (possible).

All of this could be solved by running Windows - but why should you, when there are better solutions for the purpose?

What is your thoughts on this? Please share and let us together build a better digital workplace - where the best technologies, with the best integrations and the best user experience comes together.