Having been in the computer industry for some time, in spite of my tender age, I've lived through a number of fads, from the days of managing a mainframe style system with a terminal on every desktop, through the client/server trend, and on to the more recent trend for a powerful machine on the desktop and comparatively low power machinery in the server room.

In the last 12-18 months though we've started going back to the roots of the big server (or more specifically multiple rack mount servers or blades) to provide concentrated power, with relatively lower end machines on the desktop. Often, there are very small computers, tiny cases to take up less room, and in some places they are even returning to the terminals of old. Not, sadly, with the same amber displays of old (sorry, I have a fondness for the amber screen - I even use those colours on my Xterms), but the principle is the same.