* Pendulum swinging in a new direction

By Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Network World, 07/19/05

Computing architectures seem to be attached to a pendulum, swinging every few decades from centralized to de-centralized and back again.

The first computing architectures were centralized and monolithic. The mainframe contained all the computing and storage using “dumb” terminals as an interface for the user. Client-server computing changed that equation, distributing the computing resources out to the end users, who now had powerful workstations with sophisticated graphics and local storage.