Robert, me old fruit! Well, read the NC article ...
Without wishing to sound flippant, I am of the feeling best summed
up by 'yadayadayada' ... I am not sure if that communicates
effectively my feelings but I hope you get my drift!
The marketing VP quoted is an excellent chap, don't get me wrong,
but I see no enthusing for this 'new paradigm shift' at any level
of IT. Sure, lots of bits and pieces development for Web based
GUIs to legacy data, etc, but that is a wholly different matter.
The reference to X terminals was an interesting one - they made/make
great sense, low cost of ownership, etc - but look what happened to
them!
Not wishing to sound negative, simply fail to see what all the fuss
is about - let's see some tangible, real-life corporate users
running their whole business in such environments.
Let's see them all abandon their laptops with Win95. Over 50%
of my colleagues/friends work in a nomadic manner. How can a
Java-NC-Internet reliant approach address this (increasing)
style of work? That is my main concern.
Also, see this news - this is where Applix should be if it is to
quickly establish itself in this market.
Oracle's NCI unit gets office software for NCs
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept 29 (Reuter) - Network Computer Inc., an Oracle Corp. (ORCL) unit
that makes ultra-cheap desktop computers, said Monday it agreed to bundle office applications
from a German software vendor with its machines.
Starting in November, NCI will offer Star Division's package of word processing, spreadsheet and
presentation graphics software with its network computers -- the slimmed-down machines that get
their computing power from a corporate or public computer network.
Oracle, a publisher of database software, has been one of the big cheerleaders for network
computers, or NCs. Because they are less complex to operate than personal computers, NCs
would help companies and schools slash the cost of buying and maintaining computers, Oracle has
said.
The office software from Star Division, based in Hamburg, Germany, would make NCs more
attractive to technology purchasers of big companies, NCI executives said.
``Star Division's software really complements our overall software strategy,'' said Bonnie Carter,
NCI vice president. ``Our customers can fit this solution into their exisiting infrastructure really
nicely.''
The companies said Star Division's StarOffice software suite can open and edit files created with
Word and Excel, Microsoft Corp.'s best-selling business software products. One copy of
StarOffice could be used simultaneously by several users working on a computer network.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The companies also did not disclose pricing
information.
Closely held Star Division is the second-biggest supplier of business software in Germany,
according to market researcher International Data Corp. Star Division said it shipped 1 million
copies of its products in Europe in 1996.
The company's word processing and spreadsheet products have traditionally run on personal
computers, but with the rise of the Internet in 1995, the company modified its products to be able to
work through networks, said Marco Boerries, Star Division chief executive.
Star Division plans to create a holding company in the United States and go public in the first
quarter of 1998, Boerries said. |
