Z,
IMHO, you are getting 'bogged' down here.
"Industry Standards" are NOT, as there is always a 'discussion' somewhere about the changes that are being made. It seems these 'standards' last about 10 minutes.
As for 'Workstations', everybody seems to be correct here! There are 'workstations' designed for that Hi-End stuff that require the kind of Horse Power that a SUB-1K machine will never have. If you are in a 'business' application environment, the 'workstation' can be less 'robust' and still perform the functions required.
The difference, in my mind, is that in a 'workstation' environment, more than 'one' user has access to a 'common' data set, which is generally located on a 'server'. In a UNIX complex, much of the 'overhead' software is stored on the 'workstation', such that only the 'pertinent' data has to be transmitted over the 'network'. By 'overhead' software, I am referring to the screen presentation that a particular user has set up, including the various application programs that are in use at any given time. When a request is made for any particular piece of information, that is loaded via the network.
In a business application, say MS Word could be in the 'workstation' but the document could be in the 'Server'. When the document is requested, it alone is downloaded and marked 'unavailable' in the 'Server' in case somebody else wants that same document. When one is finished with the document, it is returned back to the server for access by the next user.
The application program may also reside on the server, and then the request takes much longer as the application has to be downloaded, opened, and the the document requested is downloaded.
There are tradeoffs here! If the applications are on all of the 'workstations' then when a new release comes about, all 'workstations' need to make a 'copy' of the new application. If the server 'holds' the application, that only that copy has to be updated, as the next 'download' gets the latest version.
IMHO, a 'workstation' is more of an 'environmental' (sharing of data) question than a 'hardware' question, but remember that the industries that are doing computer intensive jobs, whether 'networked' or 'stand-alone' generally require the kind of Horse-Power that is marketed under the heading of a 'WORKSTATION'.
Again, it is paramount to remember that the industry is in a continual change of definition, and decisions of today are comments in the passage of history. Try and hang on to the 'concept' of the 'environment' the system is working in, and then select the 'hardware' that will accomplish that 'task' in that 'environment'.
JMHO
Regards,
Ken |
