Denys writes (uncharacteristically briefly :-):

>  The low-cost PC's, some approaching $500, doomed the NC before the latter
>  even got off the ground.  However the PC makers are not making much profit
>  on these low-end boxes, so they will sell you anything else they can.

In that regard, there is a series on C|Net now entitled, "Where are they now?"
In general, I don't tend to overwhelmingly agree with most of the choices that
such people make, but in this instance, I do.

The series begins with No. 10, at:

     http://www.cnet.com/Content/Reports/Trends/WhereNow/ss01.html

(skipping a few introductory pages).

Denys will be pleased to note that the NC computer is on the list of the dead
or dying :-). But then, so is Java.



>  The problem for PC makers is that PC's are now too powerful.  The high-end
>  PC's are running over 1500 MIPS and there is no slackening of the pace of
>  progress.  We have now reached the point where the vast majority of PC
>  users do not need the newest, fastest PC's.  They are very satisfied with
>  the 300, 350 and 400 Pentium II boxes and just cannot justify anything
>  faster.

Andy Grove, the CEO of Intel, was worried precisely about this two years ago.
It was becoming fairly obvious then that processor capacity was soon going to
outstrip demand, thus he began having Intel invest fairly heavily in startup
companies who were developing VRML (virtual reality markup language). He
believed that these were the companies who were going to produce the next real
resource hogs -- and thus create the next level of demand for faster and
faster processors.

Unfortunately, VRML is one of those ideas that didn't make C|Net's "Where are
they now?" list, but perhaps should have.

Wirt Atmar