Why not use desktop virtualization and virtualize you XP instances? Sure, you will not have 3D and advanced device support such as PDA's and such. But, if you have a ton of users you need to support that are everyday knowlegde workers it is perfect. It is a lot more simple to manage. Do not download the VM image that can take to long an generate to much traffic. Just use a thin client to access the VM's in the server farm. You have to be careful though not everyone is licensed to talk to XP with their devices or software. A good fit could be using a solution like a Sun Ray from Sun and X64 servers and their Windows Connector. It has no local config like other thin clients, so the bulk of your time is spent focusing on the virtualization servers and not that plus the devices as well. You really can streach out the life time of the devices. Once you get there all you have to change ar the servers in the back end.
I know they have deployed it for customers as a developer solution and the users were all Microsoft developers. That is IMO the worst case scenario.
http://blogs.sun.com/ponderthis
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Why not use desktop virtualization and virtualize you XP instances? Sure, you will not have 3D and advanced device support such as PDA's and such. But, if you have a ton of users you need to support that are everyday knowlegde workers it is perfect. It is a lot more simple to manage. Do not download the VM image that can take to long an generate to much traffic. Just use a thin client to access the VM's in the server farm. You have to be careful though not everyone is licensed to talk to XP with their devices or software. A good fit could be using a solution like a Sun Ray from Sun and X64 servers and their Windows Connector. It has no local config like other thin clients, so the bulk of your time is spent focusing on the virtualization servers and not that plus the devices as well. You really can streach out the life time of the devices. Once you get there all you have to change ar the servers in the back end. I know they have deployed it for customers as a developer solution and the users were all Microsoft developers. That is IMO the worst case scenario. http://blogs.sun.com/ponderthis