Can someone tell me what these refer to in layman's terms? (btw...Where do they come up with these names, is there a dumb client pc and a fat client PC?)
A thin client PC is a computer that relies on another computer (server) to run its programs. The server is a faster computer with more memory (more expensive) that can run applications faster and store a lot of information. The thin client is a only responsible for displaying and reading data to/from the user. It can be slower and have less memory (less expensive). Multiple users can run applications and store data on the same server.
A smart client is pretty much the opposite, where the users computer has more memory and is faster so it can run the application locally. With this option the the PC is more expensive, but a server is not needed.
An example of a thin client would be a slew of cash registers hooked to a server. Everything of importance happens in the server but enough has to happen at the cash registers to provide the user interfacing and communicate with the server.
Same thing would be a airline reservation system.
Most of the time Thin Clients don't even have hard drives. They have ROM to wake them up enough to just fetch the client SW which they then run providing the aforementioned functions.
