Photo: Gizmodo
The "computing as a utility" idea has been going around for several decades, with the result that a bunch of companies have lost their shirts, while the network computer's promoters -- such as Oracle boss, Larry Ellison -- have ended up looking stupid.
Update: The basic idea of "computing as a utility" is that users should be able to plug in a box and have it work without them having to learn anything or become their own IT managers. Like the phone, television set-top box and electricity and water supplies, computing facilities just be should be "on tap". Proponents argue that many users don't need the versatility and allied complexity of a personal computer: they just want to do a few simple things such as browse the web and write emails, and such functions can be provided on a utility basis....
But of course, you can't keep a good idea down, and market rejection can always be considered temporary. One day, perhaps somebody will get the combination of price, product and service right, sales will take off, and thousands of ignoranti will ask why no one tried it before.
The next effort is Zonbu's Zonbox. This looks like a $99 Linux PC -- but it's actually $249 unless you sign up for two years of service at $12.95 per month, and the price doesn't include things like a keyboard, mouse and monitor. Also, this is for a system with a slow 1.2GHz VIA chip, 512MB of memory and, as far as I can see, no hard drive. A CD burner/DVD reader costs $50 extra. In other words, the headline price looks very cheap but it isn't really.
In this case, the service element is provided by synchronisation with Amazon's S3 service, which can update your Zonbox and also backs up your data. (More data means higher charges.)
Zonbox uses Gentoo Linux and you can't install your own software, but why would you want to? The whole idea is to have an appliance that you don't have to maintain, it should just work -- like, for example, a set-top box.
Gizmodo has had an exclusive look at the device, and enthusiastically describes it as "a $99 Linux PC that is amazingly as simple to use as a Mac". (Brian Lam is a Mac owner.) "I love it."
So, is the Zonbox going to take off? Will it go the same way as Acorn's network computer, Larry Ellison's various efforts, the iOpener, the Microsoft/Sony/Philips WebTV and other utility computing products -- ie crash and burn?
Or is Zonbox just a precursor for the One True Googlebox, whereby Google's network computer takes over the market, sucks out your entire personality (if applicable) and makes it universally searchable. You decide....
