Some un-PC views on non-PCs

You may recently have been grappling with the concept of the NC – the new-fangled “network computer” that’s allegedly cheaper than a PC. It has no built-in hard disk or floppy drive; you have to download all your data and software programs from a central server just as if you were getting data from a website on the Internet.

So are the days of the high-cost, disk-filled, chip-stuffed, applications-laden PC numbered? Research by Compaq – manufacturers of high-cost, disk-filled etc – suggests not. They found that 70% of IT managers don’t see a role for the less-is-more technology. Many derided the slimline data crunchers, saying that the NC was merely “a crippled proper PC”, “a smart dumb terminal”, “a stupid PC” or even “a dumb terminal with attitude”.

All of which must be music to the ears of [email protected], who makes so much of the software that comes free with every high-costs, chip-stuffed.