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Tatung quits NC alliance
The fledgling Network Computer (NC) consortium has received a body blow with the news that Taiwanese giant Tatung is to withdraw its membership.
Tatung's reason is the $500,000 royalty demanded by Oracle and lack of confidence in the future of the much-hyped technology. The departure leaves 13 full members, including two other big Taiwan players, Acer and Mitac.
PCDN Comment: Putting the hat out for a cool half million royalty is certainly a strange way to kick off a challenge to the Wintel hegemony. As a rule, computer industry consortiums fail, and Oracle needs all the friends it can get if the NC is to add up to much more than a footnote in IT industry, alongside ACE, OpenDoc et al.