[mysterydip]

I can't speak to this particular implementation, but I have set up thin clients for schools using VMware's Horizon suite and Xen's XenApp before. Properly configured and with the right types of applications, their respective protocols can be very efficient.

[breakfastduck]

Does that cost £1400 per year per user, though?

[mysterydip]

No. If it did it would make more sense to just buy the hardware like you said. I was only referring to your last point on network bandwidth.