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Deciphering the NC world

Network computers and Internet appliances hold great promise for the world at large -- and for Java in particular

By William Blundon, JavaWorld.com, 03/01/97

1. Don't worry about the new technology -- it isn't important
   
   
2. Don't worry about the new technology -- we will incorporate it in our own products
   
   
3. We invented the new technology

Usually there is a direct correlation between these phases and the three "products" companies sell during a period of rapid technological change:

1. Slideware
   
   
2. Demoware
   
   
3. Hardware or software

If you have followed Oracle's pronouncements on object technology over the last few years, you are familiar with the three-pronged pattern. That company clearly is in phase three ("We invented the new technology") -- at least in their product marketing.

What does all this have to do with Network Computers (NCs) and WebTV? Well, those of you who believe there is no future for these devices should note that Microsoft and Intel are already at step two ("We'll incorporate it.") in the above sequence, and with the NetworkPC, they are moving rapidly to the "invention" phase.

Let your fingers do the walking?

When Microsoft coined its rallying cry, "Information at your fingertips," we were all encouraged to envision a world of personal computers linked to one another and to a wide range of information repositories. Intel would provide the basic hardware components and Microsoft the software and content. The software components were to be Windows NT, Office, BackOffice, and The Microsoft Network and Exchange -- all integrated into a seamless computing experience with content coming from a wide range of online services, and through strategic relationships with media giants.

This world of instant access to information has arrived. Unfortunately for Microsoft, it is called the World Wide Web. This Web version of "Information at your fingertips" has become an almost instant reality, but it poses a new question: What do your fingertips use to access this information? Clearly, Microsoft and Intel would like the answer to be a traditional personal computer running Windows, but new and more accessible options are appearing everywhere.

A call for Internet omnipresence

Wei Yen, CEO of Navio Communications (Netscape's joint venture with Sony, Nintendo, and five other electronics companies) has an updated rallying cry. "For the consumer," he says, "the Internet should really be like electricity."

How true. In the networked world of the Internet, information and services are everywhere and available for download to remote systems. Information can exist in the form of static documents, images, audio, and video. Services can be dynamic, in the form of database transactions or entire software applications.

This distributed environment creates a whole new design center for computing. Traditional mainframe software assumes a terminal at the end of a wire, and client/server applications expect there to be personal computers on a local area network. But in hardware terms, what if the client is a browser and the server is somewhere in the great maze that is the Internet?