This month, the buzz about PCs seems almost deafening. And what started all the noise? Google rumors. More specifically, rumors about Google producing a PC. Read the official Google denials.

Google generates rumors almost better than they do searches, but the rumor of a PC stripped down to a Google desktop with little more than a browser and an e-mail client (or maybe browse to your Google Mail account) touched off more yearning among tech folks than a drop in memory prices. Why is that, and what can that tell you about your desktop equipment purchases over the next few months?

I believe the pendulum now swings toward desktops doing less, not more. PCs were originally a relief from complex and expensive mainframes and midrange computers. Now PC hardware doesn't cost much, but the cost of productivity software (Microsoft Windows XP operating system and some version of Microsoft Office) remains high. Worse, security headaches make a PC more complicated and troublesome than ever before. What once brought simplicity now brings complexity, and attendant aggravation.

"Thin client" is the name for simplified PCs, and some describe them as little more than dumb terminals from the minicomputer days. Not exactly true. You can buy thin clients that require servers to host applications, bringing back the terminal-to-minicomputer feel, or you can recognize that many users don't need nearly as much software as they now have installed on their PCs.

Take a look around the company, and count how many people spend their workday using primarily their Web browser, their e-mail client, and one "real" application. If the person does Web programming, they may have DreamWeaver or another application. If the person creates newsletters, the application may be Adobe's InDesign. The "real" application could be accounting, or customer sales monitoring, or UPS and FedEx shipment tracking. Many times, their "real" application runs in a Web browser, such as using Salesforce.com or UPS and FedEx shipment tracking.

There are two ways you can take advantage of the new trends in simplified PCs. First, you can remove Microsoft Office from users who need nothing more than WordPad, the free word processor that ships with Windows. Move that Office license to another system, or put it on the shelf and save money when you don't upgrade that copy of Office.

James Gaskin writes books (16 so far), articles and jokes about technology and real life from his home office in the Dallas area.