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Ellison Launches $199 Appliance

Oracle chief says consumers can start snapping up his "New Internet Computer" on July 4.

By James Niccolai, PCWorld   

Low-cost computers from a company established earlier this year by Oracle will go on sale to consumers July 4, Oracle's chairman and chief executive officer said here on Wednesday.

Known as New Internet Computers, or NICs, the computers will be priced at $199 excluding a monitor, and are designed to offer quick and easy access to the Internet and to applications like e-mail. NICs have no hard drive--instead, they access applications from a central server via a Web browser.

Customers who buy NICs can get free lifetime Internet access from Internet service provider NetZero, Oracle Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Ellison said. Monitors will cost about $100 more, he added.

NICs will be available directly from The New Internet Computer Co., NICC, an independent company that was launched in May and funded in large part by Ellison. Previously, the computers had been available only to educators, Ellison said.

The computers shun Windows, using a version of the open-source Linux operating system instead. Oracle is a long-time bitter rival of Microsoft. On Wednesday, Ellison also defended his company's move to hire private investigators to check out Microsoft-funded groups.

NICs will be launched on Independence Day because the date represents "freedom" Ellison said--implying freedom from Windows.

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