If you haven't heard about thin client computing and "cloud computing" then I would have to ask where you have been the last 12 months. As a just in case, thin client computing effectively means that the box in front of you simply connects to a network or the internet, and the OS, interface, applications and files are all stored remotely on a server.

You may be thinking "so what?" but the whole notion of cloud computing has been high up on Microsoft's agenda for the last couple of years.

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Anyone who has a Google account has probably already indulged in a form of cloud computing in the form of Google Docs. Until recently I had never paid much attention to Google Docs, but I have started to use it a bit more and it is surprisingly feature rich. In fact I now understand why so many small business that can't afford Microsoft licensing are turning to Google for their office applications. In fact the collaboration tools in Google Docs are plenty powerful for a number of employees at a company to work together on an document or presentation.

Anyway I digress, thin client computing is starting to be evermore pervasive in business. In fact as I write this, the company where I work has slowly been working away at bringing the new thin client system to more and more users across the network (no small task when the company has some 20,000+ employees!). The real benefits to business though are in security and locking down the network. The main driving force behind this move where I work is to allow easier working at home. In fact using my home computer and an RSA key generator dongle I can log in (well, when my access is given in the new year) from home.

This is huge as work no longer needs to be emailed home or saved to one of those cumbersome USB sticks that (if you're the government at least) seem to go missing with alarming regularity. Theoretically as I can access (in January!) my work desktop from home, everything is contained in a secure environment, and I don't need to physically be in work to get my work done.

Thin client computing is definitely moving in and is in all likelihood here to stay, at least in the business world. Will thin client computing ever take off in the home? Well I'm not so sure, afterall can you imagine playing Farcry 2 on a dumb box with all the processing being done by some server in a concrete cave and being beamed to your computer through a network of cabling? No I can't either, so maybe thin client computing in the home will be more of an alternative that some may pursue. Either way it remains exciting times in the world of computing, and as ever I look forward to the next big leap... whatever it may turn out to be.