Network computing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:48, 29 November 2006

Revision as of 22:59, 17 June 2007

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The term '''network computing''' first appears informally in the late 1970's to denote [[computer]]s working together over a [[computer network|network]], as opposed to stand-alone computing. It later came to have a specific technical meaning, denoting a graphical form of remote computing. It retains its more general meaning, however, in commercial IT circles.

As [[network protocol]]s became part of increasing numbers of commercial systems in the 1980's, the term "network computing" became increasing redundant. By the late 1980's, companies such as [[Sun Microsystems]] had marketing campaigns that announced "the network ''is'' the computer".

By this time, stand-alone workstations & [[personal computers]] had come to dominate the computing landscape. They were inter-connected, but they were increasing decentralized, unlike [[time-sharing]] systems. As machines became more commodified, they began to fail more often. The notion emerged of centralized time-sharing, over a very wide area network, as a way of retaining one's "computing identity".

[[Larry Ellison]] of [[Oracle Corporation]] and [[Scott McNealy]] of [[Sun Microsystems]] began to talk of a "dream of network computing", where [[thin client]]s were replaceable, but personal information & computing activity was retained on central computers. The technology for this already existed at the time, in text based computing in the form of remote-login, and in the [[GUI]] form of the [[X11]] windowing system, which allowed a workstation to act as a thin client to a remote machine. But Oracle & Sun were targeting corporations that had become very PC dependent.

With the advent of the [[World Wide Web]], any server became a centralized data repository, and any browser could turn a computer into a [[thin client]]. [[Web services]], for example [[Webmail]] services such as [[Hotmail]], reduced the personal information kept on a client machine, and allowed people more mobility and personal information security.

In a sense, web browsers and web services made Network Computing for the masses. But it wasn't a full computing experience, of the sort normally provided by [[Personal computer]]s, and of the kind which Network Computing had promised. In 1999, an AT&T/Olivetti laboratory released screen mirroring software that worked in a web browser, and they dubbed this [[Virtual Network Computing]] (VNC), to distinguish it from commercial Network Computing requiring special [[Thin client]] hardware. Within months of VNC's release, Network Computing for the masses finally became available as a web service: a small start-up called [[Workspot]] provided VNC connection to [[Linux]]-based desktops.

[[Category:Computer networking|Computing]]