Trust the Web PC

"Inside the Web PC" (March cover story) was a great read and made many good points. But do you think computer users are going to trust their most sensitive data to the Net, where they will have to worry about both security and accessibility? Small hard drives neither cost nor weigh that much anymore. Can it be t hat we are really just talking about a new breed (with a new name) of cheap computer? What will a network computer really add that a cheap PowerBook can't?

Frode Hegland
http://www.liquid.org
frode@liquid.org

I expect that most "network computers" will have hard drives for c aching software and storing local copies of user files, but the user won't have to manage the hard drive, any more than PC users today must manage the contents of their RAM-based disk cache.By caching copies of the OS and applications on a small hard drive, the NC can run faster. Most NC users won't store their files on the Internet. In corporations, universities, and even public schools, they'll store files on LAN servers, just like they probably do now. Users at home could store them on a local hard drive or on a secure server at their Internet service provider. This frightens some people, but consider: professionally maintained servers are backed up regularly; locally stored information is only as safe as the physical security of the device it's stored on; all the most sensitive information about your life--bank accounts, medical records, etc.--is already stored on network servers.

A PowerBook could indeed be used as an NC if the operating system and applications were replaced. Unfortunately, there' s no such thing as a cheap PowerBook.--Tom R. Halfhill