multiple user on windows ?

[Allan C.]

(Re: Exporting a single Windows application over the wire)

I'm pretty sure this is in the FAQ, but I still see it on this list
quite a bit.  The short answer is: No, this can not be easily done.

This is not a limitation of VNC, but rather a limitation of Microsoft's OSs.
VNC (and pcAnywhere) just expose it in a very obvious way.

MS Windows operating systems are not Multi-User the same way
Unix-based operating systems are. This is a fundamental difference between
MS Windows 3.1, 95, CE, 98, NT, 2000 vs. SCO, Solaris, Irix, *BSD, Linux, etc.

In the former, there have been varying degrees of multi-tasking capabilities
through the years, leading up to NT/2000 which provide full preemptive
multitasking, and can (of course) handle many users as web or file servers.

Among the latter, Unix Operating Systems have been multi-tasking for
25+ years (*GRIN*), but they are also designed to actually *INTERACT WITH*
multiple users at a time -- provide multiple users each with a graphical
environment (via X) or a text-based environment (via serial consoles). 
knows/cares about, while in Windows it's not just an illusion.

Unix/X gives each user the illusion of being the only one to interact with it.
While in Windows, that's not just an illusion.

There are very few solutions which allow a user to interact with
MS-Windows in a non-exlusive manner. (fileserving doesn't count.)
Three come to mind: 

1) Running VMWare (presumably an X-based application), you can export
a Windows desktop to any X desktop. Yes, this is a form of emulation.
Yes, this still requires an entire desktop being viewed at a time.
Yes, this prevents certain capabilities such as games and Direct X.

But often times, it does accomplish the goal.  One Linux system
can run (n) instances of VMWare which can be exported to (n) Unix/X
systems on the net via standard X protocols.  Where n>=1, limited only by
memory/CPU/network resourced. (Also Note: To varying degrees of success,
WINE can be a smaller, cheaper, more efficient solution to solve the same goal)

2) There are a few solutions which allow you to export a Windows
application via X or an X-like protocol. At least a few of these are
modified versions of NT (i.e., someone licensed source code from Microsoft
and modified NT itself) which actually *ARE* multi-user in the Unix sense.
This is the best list I've found on the subject:
Exodus NTerprise  
HP 500 Windows Application Server 
Insignia NTrigue 
MainSoft X-Ray 
NCD WinCenter 
Quarterdeck DESQview/X 
Bruce MacDowell Maggs: Software for DESQview/X 
SCO Merge 
Tektronix WinDD 
TriTeal NTED 
UniPress CoSession PC2X 
Citrix WinFrame (X-like protocol for MS-Windows) 

3) With the Cygwin project, wouldn't it be theoretically possible to
recompile an MS-Windows program to act as an X client? This is presumbably
better discussed on the Cygwin list than on here. I'm sure this sort of thing
has been done. At that point, a Windows program could be exported anywhere.

None of these solutions really have anything to do with VNC. But VNC
(and pcAnywhere) finally breaks an important barrier -- making Windows an
execution server, not just a fileserver.  This is a step in the right
direction, which then blurs the inherant limitations of Windows.

Anyone/Everyone, please feel free to elaborate/comment on my accuracy. 
I appologize for the length and off-topic nature of the post, but I think
it had to be said.

--Allan
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