There is no word on what processor it will use, but Larry Ellison is putting Oracle Corp’s money where his mouth is with regard to low-cost diskless computers for use with on-line services, and the company will introduce such a device in the first quarter of next year. The planned $500 Network Computer will run far fewer applications than a personal computer, Ellison said, but it will support applications such as word processing, electronic mail and Internet browsing. The NC will be smaller, like a notebook computer, with maybe a 12 screen and a keyboard, he told Reuter. There’s no hard disk, no software, no floppy disk, because when you turn it on the operating system will come across the network. It’s like a television – you plug it in (to the telephone and power plugs) and when you want to use it you switch it on. He said it would be sold through stores, not necessarily with the Oracle brand. We haven’t set up all the details yet, but it will be available in the first quarter. Oracle’s plans for its own on-line service to knock the socks off Microsoft Corp’s Microsoft Network have also progressed: now called Web TV, it will be available through an Oracle set-top box that also costs $500. Cable access would cost about $30 a month in rental charges, and the service would enable subscribers to download video on high quality lines from Oracle servers.
