Concurrent Controls Inc and Maxpeed Corp have teamed up to put together a multi-user Windows95 offering promising what the two call Network Computer-like systems that cost between $600 and $750 per users. The core software for the systems is Applica WorkGroup, which leverages on Windows95’s multitasking capabilities. Foster City, California-based Maxpeed provides the multi-console and multiport serial controllers, dubbed MaxStation, to connect a Windows95-based personal computer to user terminals that are little more than a keyboard, display and mouse. Users don’t share applications running on the Window95- based machine, but rather each user’s application runs side-by-side with those used by others – until the Windows95 system runs out of steam, no doubt. No software actually runs on the MaxStation (it doesn’t have a processor) so calling it a Network Computer is stretching the point. Maxpeed has already been selling MaxStations for similar NT-based configurations. San Jose, California-based Concurrent Controls, meanwhile, has been selling software to do similar tricks in an MS-DOS environment. Target markets for the MaxStation/Applica combination include retail point-of-sale and fast color graphics terminals. The Applica software without the MaxStation is $500 for up to five users, and $900 for six-to-nine users.
