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With more aplomb than any sequel-producing movie studio, Citrix has been tremendously successful at repurposing its singular wares as the market has changed over the past decade.
More impressive is the fact that the underlying technology model is strictly reminiscent of the mainframe terminal environment of the 1970s. A look at where it's been can provide some useful perspective on how fundamentally good concepts can have very long lifespans.
For those not familiar with Citrix, a bit of background: The company's MetaFrame server software, in conjunction with client-side software for a variety of operating systems, lets network managers turn a Windows or Unix server into the equivalent of a mainframe that supports terminal devices. Programs are installed and run on the server with just the graphical user interface portion of the operation showing up on the client side.
Where some products have trouble...