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The most important factor, though, is the recent and rapid improvement in Web software. Thanks to these innovative applications, a non-Microsoft, non-Mac computer could operate in either one of two ways. It could be a true “network device,” relying on Web-based applications for all its needs and shipping without a full-featured operating system. Today, browser alternatives such as Firefox and Web-based applications such as Writeboard (word processing) and Basecamp (project management) are proving that an application can be as useful when based online as on a desktop. Across the Web, a new wave of software development is rising up, using technologies such as AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) that bring new functionality and desktop-like performance to Internet applications.
Google’s Gmail is an excellent example of this trend: it’s a Web-based email program; but unlike Hotmail, which must refresh a page whenever you close a message or want to reply, Gmail’s foundation in AJAX allows it to appear as if the program exists on your desktop.
The second option for such a PC would be to ship it with an alternative operating system, such as a desktop version of Linux, and for it to run non-Microsoft applications, such as Sun Microsystem’s Star Office -- a counterpart to Microsoft’s Office program. This, too, is a general area that has grown in the last couple of years.
This scenario does not deny that Microsoft is still a monopoly in office applications, and its browser, Internet Explorer, is the hands-down leader. The biggest challenge for alternative products in the marketplace is "consumer demand,” according to Kevin Carmony, CEO of Linspire, a desktop Linux company. “It’s very difficult to educate consumers after 20 years of Microsoft that there’s an alternative. They’re brainwashed into thinking there’s one choice.”
Enter Google. If there’s one company with the deep pockets and high regard to make a legitimate run at changing consumers’ computing behavior, it’s Google. The company is an odd bird that appeals to engineers, investors, and grandmothers alike. If history is any indication, however, this alignment of factors won’t last that long. While the announcement of "Google Cube" isn't coming today, Google and its ilk should not let the moment slip away to reinvent the PC.
Guest (Mike Lisanke)
And why? Because the world needs this!
I have been arguing this point around the office. A network computer does not have to be cheap. It only needs to be completely secure (i.e. un-infectable) while still allowing its user to retain their own non-network data. When it does this, it will sell like hotcakes to all the network paranoids like myself who still absolutely need the Internet.
Guest (Eric Hellweg)
Im not sure its possible to have a networked-computer thats "completely secure", but certainly, offering open-source and non-MS software is a way to offer better security.
Guest (Paul Nauman)
Several large service providers have been looking at Suns ultra-thin clients, called Sun Rays (http://www.sun.com/desktop/index.jsp?tab=1), as potential consumer devices. They are secure, zero-maintenance and cheap. Maybe their time has come.
Guest (Charbax)
Which will not only ship to hundreds of millions of children in developping countries, it will see for 200$ in developped countries, and will probably exist with larger screen for 300€ and as a desktop computer for 200€. 3ghz power stations and Windows vista fancy animated interfaces is not needed for the average internet user, for some profetionnals maybe, but average just need a simple thus fast computer experience.
Guest (Paul Nauman)
Several large service providers have been looking at Suns ultra-thin clients, called Sun Rays (http://www.sun.com/desktop/index.jsp?tab=1), as potential consumer devices. They are secure, zero-maintenance and cheap. Maybe their time has come.
Guest (Charbax)
Which will not only ship to hundreds of millions of children in developping countries, it will see for 200$ in developped countries, and will probably exist with larger screen for 300€ and as a desktop computer for 200€. 3ghz power stations and Windows vista fancy animated interfaces is not needed for the average internet user, for some profetionnals maybe, but average just need a simple thus fast computer experience.
Guest (Eric Hellweg)
Im not sure its possible to have a networked-computer thats "completely secure", but certainly, offering open-source and non-MS software is a way to offer better security.
Guest (Mahalie)
A paradigm shift is desktop computing!
What is really exciting about this possibility for me, (aside from the widespread-availability of a positive first-time computing experience for new users, no more software upgrade installs, less hardware reliance in general, hopefully the end of the blue screens of death!?), is how a Googlish OS would behave. Could this be the end of the hierarchical filesystem?
Guest (edsbee)
as one of the lucky 10,000 who recd a freepc.com
i would welcome a portable device
for email, directions,movie start times etc...
Guest (saas)
The industry beens stretching for this shift for about 8 years, any other companies planning to execute or make good on the anticipated paradigm shift?
Guest (The P-man)
Not many would choose a dumb terminal over a PC for their home but theres one place where a disabled internet terminal surrounded and funded by local targeted advertising would be of enormous use and thats on street corners. How many times you been late with no phone number or forgot directions and had to search for the nearest internet cafe and pay for 30 minutes to check 1 email that takes 20 seconds? Until we all have PDAs with internet access I wish these were more common. Just a thought.
Guest (Mike Lisanke)
And why? Because the world needs this!
I have been arguing this point around the office. A network computer does not have to be cheap. It only needs to be completely secure (i.e. un-infectable) while still allowing its user to retain their own non-network data. When it does this, it will sell like hotcakes to all the network paranoids like myself who still absolutely need the Internet.
Guest (Mahalie)
A paradigm shift is desktop computing!
What is really exciting about this possibility for me, (aside from the widespread-availability of a positive first-time computing experience for new users, no more software upgrade installs, less hardware reliance in general, hopefully the end of the blue screens of death!?), is how a Googlish OS would behave. Could this be the end of the hierarchical filesystem?
Guest (edsbee)
as one of the lucky 10,000 who recd a freepc.com
i would welcome a portable device
for email, directions,movie start times etc...
Guest (saas)
The industry beens stretching for this shift for about 8 years, any other companies planning to execute or make good on the anticipated paradigm shift?
Guest (The P-man)
Not many would choose a dumb terminal over a PC for their home but theres one place where a disabled internet terminal surrounded and funded by local targeted advertising would be of enormous use and thats on street corners. How many times you been late with no phone number or forgot directions and had to search for the nearest internet cafe and pay for 30 minutes to check 1 email that takes 20 seconds? Until we all have PDAs with internet access I wish these were more common. Just a thought.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
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Guest (Mike Lisanke)
And why? Because the world needs this!
I have been arguing this point around the office. A network computer does not have to be cheap. It only needs to be completely secure (i.e. un-infectable) while still allowing its user to retain their own non-network data. When it does this, it will sell like hotcakes to all the network paranoids like myself who still absolutely need the Internet.
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