Neverware's Juicebox Set To Add Life To Networks

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What would you say if I told you that it would be possible, fairly soon, to run Windows 7 on a computer packing a meager 128 meg of RAM and a 500 MHz processor? You’d probably think I was some kind of loon. But that’s what’s actually being worked on right now by way of the Neverware Juicebox.

Neverware’s founder, Jonathan Hefter, started working on a way to make computers a sustainable prospect, especially for things like school computer labs, after he realized that he’d just spent the last four years or so getting a degree in economics but not wanting to go into finance. His folks were probably ecstatic about this…but anyway. Hefter noticed, like a lot of us have, that the computers in school computer labs are, well, let’s just say often on the low end of the totem pole, because most schools don’t want to replace computers unless they’re, say, actively on fire. So it leaves your average school in something of a quandary–how to get kids educated on the latest hardware when you have a budget better suited to buying the kids the latest brand of chewing gum.

Thus, Hefter developed the Juicebox, a system that will not only handle Windows 7, but also fire it out in virtual desktop form across up to 100 networked PCs, including some thoroughly low-end hardware. How low end? Like I speced out for you in the first paragraph: 128 meg of RAM, 500 MHz processor…and a LAN jack.

Hefter actually demonstrated the Juicebox with a Pentium 3 so wildly out of date it connected to a laptop to use as a monitor. But sure enough, the ten year old hardware easily handled Windows 7. Two schools have, so far, been the recipients of Juicebox tests (the company itself only has three Juiceboxes manufactured), and future data on pricing is yet to come.

But still, this definitely sounds like a great idea–put new life into old hardware and yet still make it useful for school. I’ll bet people are already watching for Neverware’s IPO….