Hewlett-Packard Co says software it developed for use by its employees on internal systems called PC Common Operating Environment (PC-COE) will help it and Microsoft Corp fulfill their pledge to reduce the TCO total cost of ownership of desktop systems by 50%. The pledge was one component of the two companies’ wide-ranging eleven-point pact signed back in March. Playing the full-client card, HP says there is a place for PCs in the enterprise, as well as for network computers, NetPCs and other thin client devices. It says Microsoft has already incorporated parts of PC-COE into the Zero Administration kit for turning PCs into NetPCs, which centralizes configuration, restricts end-users from installing their own applications, and enables applications and data to be accessed from the server. HP claims PC-COE is saving its $200m a year and that when it rolls the software into its own thin client-server products it should enable users to reduce their cost of ownership by up to 75%.
