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Will that be NC or PC? Rivals duke it out in debate
Source: Computing Canada Published: Apr 1997
TORONTO — It was billed as the great debate, and those looking for insight on what the future has in store for client-server witnessed, if nothing else, a little mud-slinging here between some of the industry’s main players. The scene was DCI’s Database and Client-Server World Conference. The panelists were representatives from IBM Corp., Sybase Inc., Netscape Communications Canada, Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp.
And the questions? George Schussel, panel moderator and CEO of DCI, jumped to the chase early by asking: has the PC become too complicated and too expensive to maintain?
The answers quickly narrowed the debate as one between the personal computer, fat with applications and files, and the network computer, a thin client with minimal memory which leaves control of applications with a network server and draws them when needed.
“I’m obviously the designated defender of the NC today,” responded Chuck Rozwat, senior vice president of Oracle Corp.’s database server division. “The PC is here to stay … but you’re going to pay for it.”
