A Perspective on Trusted Hardware and Operating System of Cloud Terminal

The rise of cloud computing leads to a possibility that nearly all applications can be ported to Web and only browser is needed in client computer. This kind of computer is called network computer or thin client. PC and laptops are fat clients and too luxurious to run browsers only. Netbooks and nettops are cheap and designed to match cloud computing. But they are still using the same operating systems with PCs and laptops. This paper first introduces the concept of cloud terminal, a computer system dedicated to Web browsing. Then discuss the research challenges and design proposals of its hardware and operating systems in detail.