Internet Software Sciences is proud to announce the first Web+Center challenge. We are challenging users to see who can host the Web+Center application on a computer that has the lowest cost, lowest energy consumption and the smallest footprint possible. Users continue to contact us and share how they are hosting Web+Center application on smaller, cheaper and lower power computers. This challenge is open to Windows as well as Linux users.

The winner of this challenge will receive a free ACER Netbook computer and we will share their solution in a future newsletter article. For complete details, please see the article below.

In this newsletter we also review the option of a Netbook as next portable computing device for mobile Web+Center users.

We hope you have been enjoying the benefits of   Web+Center, the Help Desk and Sales CRM Solution that are quick and easy to implement, and that you have previously downloaded.

If you haven't had a chance to use the Web+Center suite of web-based applications, please download version 6.0 for Windows OR Linux.

Sincerely,
Scott Vanderlip - President - Internet Software Sciences

With this open design architecture of the Web+Center, we have users who have installed our product on legacy operating systems as well as the newest OS available. Our users are continuing to find ways to install it on newer, smaller, and less expensive devices. With the introduction of the Net PC, we anticipate that the hardware costs to host a Web+Center system will drop below the $300 USD price point while still providing a fast, efficient, hosting platform for our application. We are interested in documenting the best solutions for our existing user group world wide.

Web+Center Challenge Rules

• You must document your configuration/ and email it to ISS at sales@inet-sciences.com by September 30th, 2009
• Your configuration description should be descriptive as possible listing hardware, software, costs, vendors and some photos of the machine and why you choose this configuration.
• You must successfully host the Web+Center application on this platform using a windows based OS or a Linux based OS without significant modifications to the Web+Center code.

The cost of these Netbooks have dropped to around $300 USD, making them affordable for almost every organization. Since the computer is designed to be primarily an Internet (Net) connected device, its connectivity options include wired Internet, Wi-Fi and some models also include built in cellular wireless options.

We did some internal testing on the ASUS Netbook Linux model just to test browser compatibility with the Web+Center application and general usability of the Netbooks This Netbook comes with the Mozilla Browser and the Web+Center application worked perfectly with this version of the browser running on Linux Netbook. The only downside we found for this model was the keyboard. The keys are a bit small and reviewing other Netbooks later we found other vendors models with better designed keys and keyboard. The price of this Netbook was under $300.

Conclusions
Netbooks are a great compromise between a bulky laptop and those attempting to push applications to devices as small as the iPhone where the screen size is limited and the keyboard entry is just too slow. The price, size, weight, features and standard applications compatibility of the Netbooks make them a very attractive option for those wanting a capable mobile platform. Combining the Netbook cellular wireless Internet with the Web+Center Help desk gives technicians and support organizations a highly connected solution of the kind that is expected in todays support environments.