Network computer

It is a trademark of the Oracle, and the network computer (British: network computer, NC) points to development, a disk reply desktop computer (or depending on a case set top box ^[1]) which I developed and the specifications as co-operation with Sun Microsystems and the ray corn computer until 1996 through 2000. The term "network computer" was spoken for marketing to let you recognize this design for a business use and general consumers (but concept itself is not a new thing).

Table of contents

Summary

It is kind of the thin client, but may be used as a thin client and a diskless desktop computer and synonym because there was some effectiveness of advertising.

Microsoft and Intel developed the standard NetPC which competed not to lose the share of their desktop computer market by NC because a CPU of Intel and software of Microsoft were not adopted for NC [²].

The NC brand supported the range of the desktop PC mainly, and cheapness and operation intended to ship it as an easy product than the PC which was the fat client that various suppliers were common by using a diskless design and cheap parts and software. However, the NC brand disappeared because the price of PC in itself fell, and the choices that I could use the PC for as diskless use, thin client, a hybrid client increased without showing the expanse that CEO Larry Ellison of the Oracle expected.

Cause of the failure

There are several factors that were not able to achieve at all the market size that Larry Ellison predicted. Primarily the price of PC becomes less than 1,000 dollars rapidly, and competition is the point that became very severe. Second the software for the NC did not mature and was not open [³].

Third some ideas led in the times. Those days (1996) when NC stood up, Internet connection of the standard home were dial-up connection of the 28.8kbit/s degree. It is insufficient to transfer an execute file with this communication performance. It is after 1998 that World Wide Web becomes mainstream. Internet service provider did not advertise it before it on a large scale (any place other than at least United States), and the knowledge about the Internet was limited, too. Therefore the NC was not accepted generally and was considered to be the device which was a simple niche.

As a result, most of NC were used as a simple cheap X terminal.

An NC standard and draft

According to Network Computer Reference Profile (NCRP) which was an original standard, it was prescribed that I supported the following to a minimum on hardware and software both sides to give NC.

• Hardware
  • The resolution of the screen more than VGA
  • Comprising some kind of pointing devices
  • Being able to enter characters
  • What I can audio-output
• Software
  • Communication protocol such as the TCP/IP
  • WWW standard support (HTTP, HTML, JAVA)
  • Protocol for the E-mail
  • Multimedia・File format（JPEGなど)
  • Security standard

First NCRP was devised in 1996, and Oracle, sun, IBM, apple, Netscape participated in development. An expansion standard includes the following things.

• Enterprise Network Computer Product Standard (January, 1999)
• It is Mobile Network Computing Reference Specification - working draft and is not a standard (March, 1999)

NC implementation

Acorn Network Computer

As reference implementation of the Oracle, a ray corn computer developed it.

NetProducts NetStation

A design by NChannel where "NetStation" is a British company and a trademark. NChannel was divided to two later and became Internet service provider called NetChannel and the apparatus production company called NetProducts. NetProducts was going to develop set top box TVemail specialized in next-generation product NetStation II and E-mail in cooperation with ray corn. However, NetProducts was settled in 1998 without being completed both.

Sun Microsystems JavaStation

Sun Microsystems developed JavaStation which was a kind of the NC using JavaOS and SPARC. It was a design similar to a work station of the company except that it was diskless.

IBM Network Station

IBM developed some NC apparatuses, too. Network Station boots it from AS/400 or the PC server which I connected NetBSD-based NCOS to by LAN. There is X server function at the same time to be local, and to be able to carry out the basic application such as Web browsers and functions as an X terminal. Actually, it was the form called the thing which a function was added to to an X terminal to some extent because there was little application. I used PowerPC at first, but changed it to Pentium of Intel with the model of last.

Allied item

• Thin client
• Information appliance
• WebTV
• In the iMac - beginning, development was started as a network computer, but I was changed to the PC by a judgment of Steve Jobs who held the initiative of the project.

Footnote

1. ^ Acorn launches fast home NC, CNET News.com, October 6, 1997
2. ^ Cheaper Computing, Part I, Byte magazine, April, 1997
3. ^ Walters, E. Garrison (2001). The essential guide to computing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR. pp. pp. 13. ISBN 0-13-019469-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=AwrQsOW5SsQC&pg=PA398&dq=information+network+desktop+computer+IT+appliance+date: 1970-2005&lr=&num=100&as_brr=0&sig=qXs4I4h6ZEKVisWrGwM81r6m1ig#PPA398,M1 May 6, 2008 reading. . 

Outside link

• FAQ from the network computers Usenet newsgroup
• The news before the official announcement: Oracle to brass tacks for NC to fall, CNET News, November 4, 1996

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