To find out more, go back on the other Oracle thread. There are a lot of articles during the last 6-9 months about NC's, because they are so important to Oracle. There are some similar articles on the IFMX thread, but the noise level is much higher there.
Basically, the reason to choose NC over a PC is the lower cost to support the NC in a corporate environment--expected to be about $2000 difference PER MACHINE PER YEAR. Hardware costs may be slightly lower, but that is not the driving force. This is especially good for single-purpose stations (like order-entry).
The OS is not really a factor in the tradition sense, because you log into a server, and the server's OS is the controlling factor. Since you do not store stuff on a NC, you do not need a separate OS in the traditional sense on the NC (that is part of the reason for the lower cost--you are not constantly messing with the PC's OS).
Java is the reason that this can run cross-platform, but the platform is hardware, not software. You actually have certain options on how you run the applications, but underneath, it is based on a Java engine.
As far as Apple and their products are concerned, forget it. Apple is now a non-factor (except among their users, but of declining factor in nearly all corporations). Apple could have owned the world if they had made an Intel version (for 386 or better) back in 1989 or 1990 before Windows 3.x got established, but they blew it. Since then, it has just been one losing strategy for Apple after another.
Mark |
