The future of NC

Elimination of hardware dependence

Austria and France had very early entries in on-line information services, however, due to their standardization on specific hardware and low level physical interfaces - they have failed to adapt.

Changes:

• Most web browsers available for all hardware platforms
• Java, Limbo (part of Lucnt's Inferno), and other interpreted languages eliminate hardware dependence
  • optimized network communication (Lucent's Styx)
  • small kernel (JavaOS, Inferno, ...) - typically less than 1 Mbyte
  • native execution of interpreters of special hardware (Java chipsets)
• Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) - related to HTML
• standard interfaces for telephone, security, ... - hide the hardware differences

==> Network Computer (NC) - Oracle, Acorn, IBM, ...

==> Networked Peripheral (NP) - Lucent, Sun Microsystems, Unwired Planet, ...

==> Network Appliances