There may be a Web server hiding under that scrap of paper. Vaughan Pratt, a professor of computer science at Stanford, has created what he says is the world's smallest World-Wide Web server, a computer that is capable of sending images and text to Web surfers around the world. But unlike most such computers, Mr. Pratt's Web server is not quite as tall and wide as a business card, and only a quarter of an inch thick. Today we can fit the extensive software needed to drive a World-Wide Web server into a computer the size of a box of matches.
Embedded systems are useful because they are inexpensive and run their programs reliably.
General-purpose machines, like personal computers, have multiple uses, but are more complex and expensive. However, general-purpose computers, says Mr. Pratt, have dropped so far in price that they may be more economical than embedded systems in some cases. And in the case of a Web server, a general-purpose machine is desirable because its software can be easily replaced or upgraded. Mr. Pratt's server uses a 486 processor like those found in older personal computers and runs the Linux operating system. The challenge was paring down the powerful Linux operating system to fit into the server's 16 megabytes of storage space and getting it to communicate with the Internet.