Hi Paul, Article...Oracle to join Wintel dominance?? well sorta..
techweb.com
Apr 17, 1997 Intel-based Network Computers Show Promise
(04/16/97; 12:30 p.m. EST)
By John Boyd , TechWire
TOKYO -- Larry Ellison boosted his dream of turning the network computer into reality Wednesday when he demonstrated "an NC network out of the box" system running on Intel-based microprocessors that will also run Microsoft Windows 95 and NT software.
Previous NCs had used 33-MHz ARM RISC<Picture> chips designed by Advanced RISC Machines, based in Cambridge, England. Digital Equipment also displayed an NC running on a 233-MHz StrongARM chip, a Digital-upgraded implementation of the ARM architecture, though most of the attention was on the industry-standard Intel chips.
The Oracle chairman and chief executive officer gave the demonstration to a packed audience at Oracle Open World here. Practicing what he has preached -- that NCs are an easy-to-use computing system based on open industry network standards -- Ellison took an NEC 200-MHz Pentium Pro server out of its box, hooked it up to a network of NCs running on 133-MHz Pentium chips, and had them downloading Web pages from the Internet in minutes.
Unlike PCs, NCs do not come with hard disks, floppy disks or even manuals. Rather, they rely on the network and servers for their computing power and to store user applications and data. This makes for simplified hardware, or a "thin client," which can be manufactured for hundreds of dollars.
In one demonstration, Ellison used an NC's built-in video instructions to copy animation and other graphics from a Web page and embedded them into an E-mail, which he sent to another NC on the network. He also downloaded directly from the Internet software based on Intel's new multimedia MMX technology. Ellison pointed out that though NC supports MMX, such support was still lacking on Windows.
Ellison also used Win emulation software on an NC to interact with an NT server. "You can use any Windows application -- Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint -- off an NT server," he said. Last week, Microsoft had said NC stood for "not compatible" because it did not run Windows, Ellison said.
Quoting Intel data, he said it cost $8,000 a year to maintain a corporate PC. NCs would be cheaper to own, range from $300 to $900, depending on what features PC manufacturers might add, Ellison said, and there would be no training or support costs.
NCs will come with bundled software, including an operating system based on Unix called NC OS, business applications such as word processing and presentation software, Win emulation software and a Netscape Navigator browser.
Yet despite the rosy picture painted by Ellison, Oracle is still working to get the majority of mainstream PC vendors to climb on board the NC wagon. Digital, IBM and Sun Microsystems are NC supporters, but NC manufacturers are mainly second- and third-tier players such as Funai and Uniden in Japan, Taiwan-based Accton Technology and Acorn in the United Kingdom.
Even NEC said it had no plans to market its server as an NC server, but would use it for systems-integration purposes and see what the demand was like, company spokesman Chris Shimizu said. "We are not planning to announce it as a [separate] product right now."
And first-tier players such as Compaq and Dell are putting their major efforts into PC versions of NCs -- scaled-down sealed boxes running Windows for roughly $1,000.
This hasn't spoiled Ellison's enthusiasm. "By the year 2000, the majority of machines being sold will be network computers, not personal computers," he said.
"Personal computers are too complex and too difficult to use," he said. "So I think it will be very bad for Windows, like Windows was very bad for the mainframe."
______________________________________________________
Thanks for the welcoming return Paul. My vacation?? Well let's just say I've been to more desirable places with better looking ladies. :-)
Michael |
