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Asus announced it will have a ROM boot chip for their ultar portable line of eeePC computer that instantly boots to Linux, bypassing the need to wait for Windows to load. You simply press the on button and you're instantly ready to browse the Internet, no waiting.
This development is important, since 90 percent of the time all a user wants to do is surf the Web... It's an extremely subversive ploy for a number of reasons. First of all, it gets people used to Linux, gives them a pain-free experience, and provides quick rewards. Second, it shows users that—most of the time—this is all they need. And finally, it makes Windows look like a subsystem not much different from a program that you run under Windows. The psychological effect of this is profound, and the results could be devastating for Microsoft.
The instant on Internet ability can be added to any motherboard, subverting the need for Windows and making cloud computing more viable. This is a major shift in the computer hardware industry that could affect the need for Microsoft Windows OS and has implications for the advancement of cloud computing and a surge in popularity of linux software.
Standby, hibernate, and off are three different options. The latter two surely have some boot time. To eliminate this time for all three options would eliminate the options altogether. Currently only Standby "boots" instantly but there is the disadvantage to it using battery power still.
>> ultra portable line
This is where I see the market being for this, also. Fits right into where the trend seems to be going, too: [webmasterworld.com...]
[edited by: eelixduppy at 10:37 pm (utc) on July 21, 2008]
Kaled.
That being said, I have now delayed my planned eeepc purchase until this new model comes out ;)
But growing. People are becoming more portable, the reason being they don't want to have to wait (or can't) to get back to the office to check emails or browse the internet. Getting rid of wait time makes the portable device that much better.
>> It'll never be instantly usable
"Instant" is a relative term here :)
Someone should change the title of this thread to "another short-sighted Microsoft bashing"
--as usual--Dvorak is making a mountain range out of a molehill.
Agreed. And besides, various companies are already marketing ultra portable PCs using small solid state hard drives which are so fast that it's virtually instant on even if you use Windows.
And as solid state prices continue to drop the same will become true of full fledged PCs.
It still gets used for causual surfing but the new laptop does the real work.
People [...] don't want to have to wait (or can't) to get back to the office
Or have done away with "the office".
> laptops with 750MB RAM or less are
> now obsolete for internet browsing
Some modified versions of XP (via nLite) can run Windows XP with as little as 48MB of RAM without affecting every day functionality. That leaves you over 640MB of RAM for applications. Try MicroXP and see for yourself.
I don't know if what I just said makes any sense :)
If it does, would it be possible?
People have been putting OS files on solid state drives to increase boot speed for ages... and solid state prices are finally starting to drop.
Yes it makes sense but ROM isn't the way to go.
I think most apps will soon disappear and replaced with web apps - All we need is a web browser.
yes that's great. And in 2012 all local data will be illegal due to security reasons.
Am I the only one to be scared by this cloud computing stuff?
So this raises the question, why do such ludicrous claims get made? Answer : To get research money to achieve that which is possible. Unfortunately, people who lack sufficient knowledge of Maths and Physics believe and repeat these claims and predictions, often without even asking the question "would this be better?".
The idea that people will opt for "dumb-terminals" and centralized data storage and use wireless links (cloud-computing) to access both data and programs is just absurd. In addition to difficulties with respect to bandwidth if everyone worked this way (i.e. response times would be poor) there is no significant advantage to this system over current computers but there are many disadvantages.
Incidentally, the main cause of slow bootups is bloatware. I can compile around 100,000 lines of code in 2 seconds (in memory). As problems go, that is probably bigger than any bootup process should be i.e. computers should be able to bootup using less than two seconds of CPU time - that just leaves file access.
Kaled.
Let's just ride the wave and let those dumb engineers with no knowledge of math pull more rabbits out of their (red) hats. :)
there is no significant advantage to this system over current computers but there are many disadvantages.
At least there is no advantage while average net connections are still slower than a hard drive. Even if they were faster the biggest disadvantage (to me) is far too big to get past... No internet connection = no data. And network congestion = data so slow you may as well not have it. Redefines the impact of DDOS.
Cloud computing has a place and, for the most part, I think it has already achieved it.
No one knows where computer technology is headed.
Hehe... people have been confidently predicting the imminent death of PCs for what, 10 years now?
