Competition usually results in improvements, so it's with a sense of relief that we greet the news that the $1,000 NetPC -- Microsoft and Intel's answer to Oracle's Network Computer (NC) -- is finally making its way toward the desktop.

After insisting for years that everybody needs to pony up at least $2,000 per PC to gain even basic functionality, the Wintel duopoly has at last figured out that there are some applications that don't need the processing power of a full-fledged PC.

The specifications of the NetPC are remarkably similar to those of the Oracle NC, right down to the hard disk that's used for caching.

This means that the major difference between the NC and the NetPC is going to have little to do with the hardware involved but with the software that is used to manage these systems.

In Wintel's case, the key software component is Intel's LANDesk, which will be improved to make managing locked-down NetPCs an easier task for IS managers. Based on the software's existing version, however, Intel still has a long way to go before LANDesk becomes a true enterprise product.

Meanwhile, Oracle has teamed up with vendors such as The Santa Cruz Operation to build management software for NCs. Vendors with a history of managing enterprise servers will likely have the edge.

When it comes to compatibility with Windows applications, the NetPC should have the upper hand. But if this is not a critical requirement for your application, then going with the enterprise computing experience of Oracle and its partners could make more sense.

Of course, getting either network computer adopted is going to depend on how focused your organization is on total cost of ownership. Executives rarely miss a chance to remind IS managers about controlling costs.

Source: InfoWorld