Thin clients return--as security enhanced PCs

Thin clients are the third party candidates of the computing world: It's a great idea that goes nowhere.

But now the concept is sneaking back under a new name. Hitachi is going to start selling security-enhanced PCs? What is that? It's a computer without a hard drive, which is pretty much a thin client with a little more processing power than normal. NEC started selling such units in April.

While unpopular in North America, PC makers in developing nations say they trend is already taking off because of the lower costs involved in administration.