Splashtop, sub-laptops, Linux and Windows

One of the great things about the little EEE PC is how quickly the thing boots up when you switch it on. Just a few seconds. The PC in my study is so slow ( especially since I downloaded the new upgrade to the virus checker - ha !) that I generally turn it on as I hop in the shower. That way I don"t end up sitting there listening to the rattling of the hard drive. I need to do some serious tuning on that PC.

Anyway, two bits of computer news caught my attention this morning:

Firstly that Asus are now putting a really small version of Linux in flash memory on their mother-boards ( Splashtop / Express Gate ) The idea is that within seconds of you turning on the power to your PC you can check your mail, access online applications, use Skype, do what you need to via wifi internet. If you need to use your hard disk on your machine you start your operating system (and have a quick shower while it starts up...)

Secondly Windows is now being supplied with the OLPC $100 laptop project. They've negotiated a price of (I think) $3 to put XP on the things.

Could it be that the tide is turning in personal computing and that the gigahertz and gigabytes race is being overtaken by the use of online services and software ?

Could it be that Microsoft are concerned at the upsurge of interest in Linux ?

Naaaaah .

Comments

minternational said…
Of course, you could also just use a nifty smartphone to check email & various websites and skype, too....but not whilst in the shower, mind.
10:45 am
Alan said…
Yeah, but mobile telephony is still expensive in France compared to Britain.
11:16 am
digit said…
...and it still can be pretty expensive in Britain.
3:37 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit about music exams in UK and France

They're really different. I think I have already mentioned that while in the UK people generally find a private teacher for their instrument, or do it through a school scheme, here there are municipal music school, conservatoires and so on. The situation is a little more complex than I had first understood, because the schools vary in the rigidity of their organisation: the most, the conservatoires, next the municipals, then the associations. Our music school is an association, but it tends to apply the standards of the municipal schools with its programme of cycles, etc. Britain - grade 1 to 8, grade 8 being roughly equivalent to A-level, pre university/conservatoire. France - 3 cycles, each taking about 4 years, with 3ème cycle being roughly equivalent to grade 8. Theory of music - UK to take grade 8 you need theory grade 5. In France you study theory alongside your instrumental studies, very slowly. Catrin's flute music is MUCH more difficult than the stuff she does in theor...
Read more

Good news from my sermon buddy

Yesterday we went over my script from August 13. There really wasn't much she had taken exception to. Once or twice she wondered quite what I was getting at (they had the same problem at Deeside, I think...) and I do have difficulties with the word " de ", but then she said "Who doesn't?" So I felt very encouraged. I also took the opportunity to ask her about one or two things: 1) Direct preaching. Like I used to in Britain, I preach saying you - using "vous" when I am talking to the whole wide world and "tu" when I want it to feel as if I am addressing each person individually. French preachers tend to say rather "What will we do, what will one do". So I asked her if she felt my way was too direct, too brutal for the French ear. She said "I think you can get away with it with your English accent". In fact several people have commented on how much they appreciated being spoken to directly in preaching. 2) Liaisons Last...
Read more

A brief sortie to North Wales

 Following the Great Keswick Debacle, when our volunteering at the Keswick café was sabotaged by our assorted indispositions, we had airline tickets to use up. Yes, we had not taken travel insurance, so we paid even more money to change our tickets to fly for a short visit to North Wales. This time we were able to go. We passed extremely slowly through a very crowded Bordeaux airport but in good time to get our plane. All seats in the terminal were taken so we leaned against whatever we could find while waiting to board. Hey, bags need seats, too! though sometimes pointing out to Pat, "No, that's a bag seat", makes the bag find a new refuge on the lap of the person sitting next to it... Once on the plane we quickly found our allocated seats - right at the back on the left hand side - stowed our bags and the flight was smooth and uneventful.  We had 30 minutes in Manchester to disembark, get through immigration , hustle off to the station and board our train for Shotton. I...
Read more