The Network Computer/Net PC

Oracle, the world's second leading software producer, has a vision for providing the world with an alternative to expensive, hard to maintain PC's. On September 4th, 1995, Larry Ellison (CEO Oracle) introduced the concept of the Network Computer (NC). The NC, planned to debut in early 1997, is a "new generation of affordable, easy-to-use information devices...optimized for electronic communications, information access, entertainment, and a host of applications." Network Computer, Inc., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oracle Corp., and is charged with the development of the NC and it's associated software products.

In simple terms, the NC is a stripped-down version of a PC or PDA (personal digital assistant) which will enable users to gain access to the Internet with low costs. Users will not be required to have bulky, large applications (or suites) on their computers. Instead, the vast majority of the applications will reside on the server (host) computer, and will only be retrieved as needed, via Java (or similar) software. Software will be "rented" on an as-needed basis. The cost of software rental may fluctuate with market demand, but will remain relatively inexpensive in comparison to client-resident software packages.

As with everything else, Bill Gates realized that this new wave in computing might have a significant impact on his business, and decided to retaliate with his own version of a thin-client: the NetPC. Microsoft teamed up with Intel to form a new standard for manufacturing and producing software/hardware for such machines.

These NetPC's and NC's are in some ways much like the old mainframes of the 70's and 80's. All of the data/applications reside on the server (aka, mainframe), and the user only needs a "dumb-terminal" to access the computing power of the system. This new revolution of Network Computers is founded on the same premise- that it is more cost effective and easier to administrate thousands of computers from a central place. It would seem that the NetPC/NC will offer the cost savings and ease of administration that many companies are looking for- and that they are only modern versions of older mainframe systems.