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Microsoft to Push Own NC Platform

Simply Interactive PCs to include hard drives and run Windows 95.

By Kristi Essick (IDG News Service)   

The software company, which made the Windows operating system a desktop standard and has captured over 80 percent of the PC market share in conjunction with Intel%squots processor architecture, has formerly refuted the idea that consumers will want to buy a network computer. However, NC proponents have championed the low-cost devices as less expensive and easier to use than the PCs they believe will be displaced.

Several PC vendors are expected to announce SIPC products. Microsoft has also garnered support for the SIPC from Hewlett-Packard, Compaq and Dell.

The SIPC differs from the NC in that it has a hard drive for local storage and runs a full-fledged version of Windows 95, whereas the NC has little or no local storage and runs on a browser. However, both the SIPC and NC are based on the idea that large applications are stored on a server and accessed by a user on an as-needed basis.

Microsoft is also expected to announce specifications for the %dquotMemphis%dquot release of Windows 95, which is scheduled to appear in 1997, that allows SIPCs and PCs to function more like NCs by interacting with data and applications on a central server. Microsoft denied that it will release a special pared-down version of the Windows operating system for its SIPCs, according to Carol Wallace, a spokeswoman for Microsoft.

While the initiative may look like an attempt to move in on NC territory, especially since Sun Microsystems will announce its $1,000 JavaStation NC on Tuesday, some observers say Microsoft may not be defecting to the NC camp just yet.

%dquotThis is a carry-over from the SIPC initiative Microsoft announced with Intel earlier this year,%dquot according to Rob Enderle, a senior analyst at Giga Information Group. %dquotMicrosoft does not and will never believe that the NC is a viable platform.%dquot When faced with buying a $1,000 NC versus a $1,000 Windows- based machine with fuller functionality, most consumers and companies would choose the Windows machine, Enderle said.