Oracle claims wide industry support for NC

"The pilots will merge into fully fledged usage as corporates buy Intel or ARM-based Network Computers, which will start to sell in volume round about Q2 next year," said Nick Barley, director of marketing, Oracle UK.

However, Barley admitted: "One thing that's been overlooked is the underlying NC architecture. More important than the NC device is that the network and server technology are good. Users should be able to plug the NC into the network and it'll work." He added there will be a rush to buy NCs next year when the network is ready to receive them.

"Microsoft's NetPC is very good news for the user as is anything that simplifies computing. But Microsoft has missed the plot. The NetPC still uses Windows and a hard drive and that's far too complicated."