If it can live up to the hype, users will be able to plug into the Net by PC or phone anywhere in the world and be greeted by name.

FORBES: Sound Idea

The net-powered PC has come out of a project to create specifications for powering almost any kind of computer hardware through Ethernet cables.

BBC: NEWS | Technology | Net-powered computer goes on show

He's deployed both assets to rejigger Novell from fallen PC networker to ascendant Net software star.

FORBES: CEOs for the next century

Founded in 1998, Wargaming.net originated as a PC games company.

FORBES: Connect

Similarly Kaspersky Labs' anti-virus software lets one copy update itself via the net and then copies on other PC can download updates from that machine via the home network.

BBC: NEWS | Technology | Home PC face security onslaught

Now comes the Net and suddenly Microsoft appears as slow and confused as DEC at the dawn of the PC era.

FORBES: Dvorak is wrong

This means that the main PC in your den and a second PC in your kid's bedroom can both have the same fast access to the Net.

FORBES: Ten O'Clock Tech: Data Plumbing For The Home

As Microsoft definitely gets into IP, high-def movie downloads, content on your PC and your Xbox and all these different Microsoft hardware platforms, how are rulings on net neutrality and net neutrality law going to affect Microsoft's business?

ENGADGET: A lunchtime chat with Bill Gates at CES