The
term network
computing denotes computers working together over a
network,
as opposed to independently operating 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
computer
networking protocols 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
clients 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 computers,
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.
