Network Computing has its place

1999-04-27

The Network Computer, launched with much hype and applomb by Larry Ellison four years ago, is widely believed to be dead following only minimal success. What killed it? Although the Windows camp was largely responsible, through products such as Citrix Winframe and Windows Terminal Server, the advent of web browser-based applications should also take a share of the blame. Or should that be credit? As SUN’s I-Planet announcement demonstrates, the Network Computer or NC is, and always was a myth.

I-Planet is a software package which runs on a server to enable applications and databases to be accessed through a Web browser. Browsers are becoming established as the standard device interface to the internet or intranet, hence the I-Planet concept is sound. SUN is not the only company to see that the browser-enabled, thin client approach is worth developing: most vendors, including SAP and Peoplesoft, are scurrying to web-enable their applications.

It is this facility any different to the NC architecture? No, of course it is not, in principle, but the NC concept is far too flexible to be limited to single device type or hardware. All browser-enabled devices, from PCs to PDAs, mobile phones to set-top boxes, should be seen as Network Computers. Other architectures have their place, for example thick clients for graphics intensive tasks, but the thin, browser-based client will be the best approach for a large number of applications. The NC might have died, but its spirit lives on and on.

(First published 27 April 1999)