Ellison revamps NC campaign

Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison attempted to revive his ill-fated vision for network computers with yesterday's launch of the New Internet Computer (NIC).

The NIC, developed by the New Internet Computer Company, is the latest incarnation of the network computer, which failed to make a dent in the market against the falling prices of Intel PCs running Microsoft Windows.

Currently NICs are only available to buyers who will donate the machine, priced at $199 or $376 including monitor, to poorer schools in the US. However, the computer will be available to consumers in the middle of June.

Each NIC comes with a 266Mhz Cyrix-made processor, 64Mb RAM and a 56K modem. There is no hard disk drive and a version of the Linux operating system runs on a CDRom drive.

The machines are being used as part of Ellison's campaign to invest $100m into putting computers on desktops in US schools.

Ellison's original $500 network computer, manufactured by Network Computer, failed to take off in a Wintel-dominated market. Later, Network Computer was morphed into Liberate Technologies, which now provides internet software for TV set-top boxes.

Ellison is using NICs to entice other companies and individuals to join his crusade to wire US schools. "We can't do it alone. In order for this mission to be successful, we'd like other companies to adopt schools by buying them a network computer or volunteering their time and expertise," he said.

While the first incarnation of the NIC is aimed at the education market, an assault on the consumer market is looming. "When we come out with a consumer computer it will be the easiest to use machine on the planet," said Gina Smith, NIC's chief executive.