Network computers (NCs) are likely to have widespread appeal with corporations, universities, and other environments where lower-cost network stations can reasonably replace fully configured personal computers. While the basic idea of an intelligent terminal has been around a long time, the Internet and Java are converging to make NCs far more exciting and flexible. The Waite Group's NC Guide: Development Strategies for Network Computing is finely poised on the bleeding edge of all this new technology. The author takes a skeptical and technically sophisticated approach to analyzing issues that will make or break the NC model as a platform for enterprise computing. These issues include using NCs as a platform for applications, databases, and distributed objects. In addition, the book covers electronic commerce issues; computer telephony integration; operating systems, such as Inferno; servers and software; and Java's impact on the NC environment. Considering how young many of these technologies are, the book is surprisingly useful and rich. Targeted to the intermediate to advanced technical user, this book is an especially good fit for the MIS professional who wants to hear an objective version of the NC story in order to make educated strategic decisions.
