The recent issue of _Computer Reseller News_ has a couple of items on the "internet terminal" being readied by Oracle. I'll quote a couple of crypto-relevant excerpts: 1. Interview with Larry Ellison (Oracle Corp's Chairman/CEO) Q. How far along are you in the development of the $500 Internet Network Terminal? A. We'll be delivering the prototype machines this year with full production in the third quarter next year. ... Q. Will you release Application Programing Interfaces for the Oracle browser and server? A. We will use industry-standard APIs that are accepted by everybody, not Microsoft-proposed APIs. ... Q. What differentiates the Oracle Web products from competitive offerings in terms of pricing and technology? A. There will be standard Web payment schemes. We'll use them, as will everybody else. We won't differentiate ourselves on basic payment schemes. The thing that will differentiate us is security protocols, the ability to use text processing, database processing, video processing, our video server technology and our powerful client. 2. Ellison's field of dreams - $500 PC (by Ken Yamada) ... Oracle's chairman and chief executive, Lawrence Ellison, previewing his latest futuristic vision at a trade show last month in Geneva, said Oracle is developing the computer and that it will be shown early next year. The desktop version of the new system, called a "network computer" and referred to as an "NC" rather than a PC, is expected to sell for about $500 and will use Internet servers to do the bulk of its computing. Basic hardware will include an inexpensive microprocessor, a small amount of memory, a monitor and a keyboard, but the device will lack storage and software. [I guess, they mean no permanent storage or software other than the browser in ROM. No remembered state, no viruses... -DV] ... The Redwood Shores, Calif., company is developing the computer's operating system and technical design, but the unit will be produces by hardware manufacturers, said Farzad Dibachi, an Oracle senior vice president. While Dibachi would not name specific manufacturers, he explained that Oracle's participation in the device's technical development was similar to the role it played in developing a digital television set-top box with Apple Computer, which produced the box's hardware. ... Oracle plans to sell software that turns World Wide Web sites essentially into central processing units for the new computers. ... "If computing is to go to the masses and we're doing electronic commerce," said Dibachi in a telephone interview from Geneva, "you have to have devices that are simpler." Oracle's Laursen said he expectes that eventually many different companies will manufacture the devices, which he described as an entire line of products encompassing two-way pagers, intelligent telephones, mobile computers, desktop systems and television set-top boxes. Each of these devices would rely on the Internet to do its core processing work. He said he expected Oracle to develop as many as 50 working prototypes by early next year. ... Oracle also plans to leverage its wireless communications software products and give some of the devices wireless capabilities. "We're still trying to figure out what processor to put in," Laursen said. Under consideration are chips from Mips Technologies and Motorola Inc. --- Dr. Dimitri Vulis Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps