Roll up! Roll up!
For only £2,500 you can buy a top of the range
personal computer. Multimedia, Intel Inside, Internet and CD-ROM
included. Huge 13" monitor bundled free!
Get the latest software including WordPerfect 2.0 for DOS.
Go on-line with a 2400 baud modem!
Bargain!
People are being conned everywhere!
PCs are going out of date fast, thats ok but most people
don't know that. Well its not their fault is it?
Half the people don't even need what they buy.
Probably more than that actually.
Some people, sure enough, need the power packed
in that tasty beige box we all know and love as the PC.
But more and more the Network Computer seems to
make sense. In schools, businesses and at home
a simple device that has all its software resources
stored remotely except an operating system in ROM.
Cheap, reliable and small. Also practical, keep your
preferences on a smart card and "jack in" anywhere
you want. Hire the server company which offers what you
need in space and service requirements.
You're not restricted, its low maintenance and its easy to use.
Wow! Sounds like a great idea.
Well it is, almost.
But Larry Ellison and the other NC proponents have taken a leaf
out of their arch-rival's book.
Bill.
He always over-hypes things and so have they.
The NC could be good but there a couple of problems.
1. Microsoft doesn't like the NC. (Oh dear!)
2. Nobody seems to have made a viable production model.
3. No home users have the right level of connectivity.
What?
Well corporate users will being using NCs pretty soon,
they have high-bandwidth local area networks, plenty of ethernet,
low usage and so on.
But Joe Six-pack doesn't have that.
He has a poxy 28.8k modem connected over twisted pair
to some pathetic exchange connecting to the Internet.
Not precisely the fastest way to transfer data.
So instead of quickly downloading the latest
Worprocessing applet and typing that e-mail to Auntie Jane
it'll be a case of starting the download of the applet,
watching Friends and then maybe writing the e-mail.
So unless bandwidth goes up soon, in other words
the internet gets seriously faster and everyone gets
ISDN or cable modems then the NC is going to be
a no-go for home users.
Some clever clogs has said that a CD-ROM drive
holding the basic applets might speed things up
but then we get back to updating the CD-ROM as
applets go out of date. And the NC gets more expensive
and more unreliable. Aw shucks Larry.
Oh well, keep trying!
You're falling