The latest computing revolution means programmes which usually require powerful computers and need constant upgrading can be rented down a telephone line. Simple screens are all that will be needed. The \'processing\' of data - from videos, internet browsing and home banking - will be done at computer centres with virus scanning and updating part of the rental.
Internet Central Global Universal will replace the business of upgrading Office 98 to Office 2000 because it will provide Office Now.Software giant Microsoft, with the two largest telephone companies in Australia, Optus and Telstra, and other computer servicing companies, is trying out the idea on several million Australian households and small businesses.
If the Australian experiment is a success it could dramatically change the way the internet and software is used, owned and priced. Companies may be able to dispense with their entire IT departments, replacing them with a connection to a data and process utility which will take its place alongside power, telephony, water and sewerage. The all embracing IT utility, that sends customers a bill each month, will give the home office the same computer firepower on tap as the biggest enterprise in the city The implications for competition policy, privacy and security are all uncertain though Microsoft insists data will be protected. What would happen if there was an earthquake or, perhaps more likely, a power failure, at the central facility is also unclear.
Centralising information in this way may also water down the so- called anarchic aspects of the internet. Societies which fear the empowering of individuals by the private use of the internet may find it easier to recover processed information. The hard drive inside today\'s PC retains in recoverable form every keystroke entered into the computer long after files have been supposedly erased. A centralised computer system would mean those hard drive records would be stored in their data banks.
Whether ordinary computer and internet users will trust this new method may become evident from the Australian model.
