Functionally, these devices have changed very little. The major difference among products released last year and this year is that the newer offerings support both Microsoft's RDP protocol and Citrix's ICA protocol. In addition, many of the new devices have abandoned older operating systems in favor of a scaled-down version of Windows CE. Unlike the CE that powers handheld devices, the WBT version has no pocket versions of Word, Excel and Internet Explorer. Granted, these applications are somewhat limited; nevertheless, they meet the basic needs of most users and could offload some processing from the server. But their absence does not diminish CE's allure as a compact OS for thin clients that supports multiple processor platforms, and includes a well-defined and supported application development environment.
The big question for WBT vendors is how much local application support they can build into their systems. Today's model calls for all applications to run via remote presentation, but the CE foundation will open the door to local applications loaded from server or flash memory. Inclusion of local terminal emulation is a natural first step; a Java virtual machine and a Web browser cannot be far behind.
IBM, Java, NCI and Sun
Deployment of WBTs may be becoming mainstream, but not all vendors are willing to concede yet another victory to Microsoft. In particular, IBM, Oracle (through its NCI affiliate) and Sun continue to promote Java-centric devices. Unlike WBTs, which provide access to HTML and Java applications via a standard 32-bit Windows version of Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator/Communicator, these products launch applications from a server and process them locally. NCD and Neoware also offer products in this market sector. While IBM and Sun are peddling hardware, NCI is developing system software licensed by hardware vendors such as
Accton Technology Corp., Funai Electric Co., Philips Taiwan, UMAX and Uniden (a list conspicuously lacking any giants). The primary offerings are NC Desktop, NC Administration Server and the Netscape-compatible Navio browser.
While these vendors have a different view of the thin-client market from the WBT vendors, they are realistic enough to understand that users need access to legacy Windows applications. Thus, these NC offerings can connect to a Citrix server, either via an ICA client or a browser plug-in. And these vendors, particularly Sun, have a legacy of unfulfilled NC expectations to combat, and are careful not to market their products as PC replacements.
An additional complication lies in the incompatibility among these products. While the NC Reference Profile offers some guidance to vendors, version 1.0 of the standard focused mainly on application capabilities. The next version of the profile, under the auspices of The Open Group, is expected to address many of the management standards needed for long-term growth. Whether or not they're successful in competing with WBTs hinges on the availability of popular applications, including personal productivity tools.
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