Posted on 03/15/2009 12:28:51 PM PDT by webschooner
It's not news that Microsoft will get Windows 7 out as fast as possible this year. Vista has been a complete dog, so Microsoft will rush to deliver what is essentially a cleaned-up, lightweight version. What is news is that Google will have its own contender, Android, in the desktop operating system market.
Android, you ask? What would a Linux-based phone operating system be doing on the desktop? Running it, perhaps. You see, Matthäus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann, founders of start-up Mobile-facts, discovered late last year that Android has two product policies in its code. Product policies, they explained, are instructions in an operating system aimed at specific uses. Android's two policies are phones and MIDs (mobile internet devices). You probably know MIDs by their more popular name: netbooks.
The light begins to dawn, doesn't it? Though just because a program says it can do a job, doesn't mean it can actually deliver the goods. Recall, for example, just how well Vista ran on "Vista Capable" PCs.
So, Krzykowski and Hartmann decided to see if they could get Android to work on a netbook.
It took them about four hours to compile Android for an Asus' Eee PC 1000H. They reported on VentureBeat.com, "we got the netbook fully up and running on it, with nearly all of the necessary hardware you'd want — including graphics, sound and wireless card for Internet." In other words, Android is already a desktop operating system.
OK, but does this mean someone is actually going to build and sell Android-powered computers? Yes, that's exactly what it means.
Samson Hu, chief of Asus' Eee PC business, says Asus has assigned engineers to develop an Android-based netbook by the end of the year — though he says it hasn't decided whether to ship such a product.
But in this economy, would any company waste expensive engineering on a project that might not ship? I don't think so. Android makes sense for Asus, which has already shown a willingness to back a Linux maverick.
As for applications, the wide array of open-source software that all Linux distributions share would be available, but so would Google's Chrome web browser and its wealth of web-based applications. You can bet those are going to work with Android/Chrome.
I'm sure Asus won't be alone in adopting Android. According to Barclays Capital analyst Israel Hernandez, netbooks are the one bright spot in the PC market. Android just makes them cheaper and more profitable.
If you were in charge of a computer company in a lousy market, and one of your choices was to invest more in the one product line that's showing signs of life, would you do it? If you had a choice between paying a considerable chunk of cash for Windows and a lesser sum for Android, what would you do? Before answering those questions, you'd have to decide whether people would be willing to buy something other than Windows. Most haven't been, but when the alternative is from Google, which is now as well known as Microsoft, there's a chance things could be different.
I predict that by December, we'll see not only Asus selling Android-based netbooks, but at least a half-dozen other vendors doing so as well. In bad times, businesses have to be smart, and Android on netbooks is a smart move indeed.
tech ping
cool
ABM
Anything But Micro$oft
Google wants your data.
Seeing how MS has been creating operating systems that are full of bugs, and that they don’t seem to care, I’m ready for a new operating system.
I’m very happy with Win7 (running build 5057 - it works great) and personally, I trust Microsoft a heck of a lot more than I trust Google (and I don’t trust Google at all, so that’s not saying much for Microsoft).
s/b build 7057
YUP. Scr*w that.
Yikes, there's a scary thought. M$ doesn't seem to be able to get it right on any X.0 release of anything even when they take their time. (conventional wisdom is to wait for X.1 or X.2 releases). How long was it between XP and Vista, years... What I'm thinking is that all Win 7 users will in-effect be beta testers.
Others have noted that Google wants your data - an equally scary proposition. I'll stick with Linux (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mepis, Red Hat, etc.) and keep control of my data, my hardware, and my computer security.
I’m sure the Google OS will monitor every web site you visit, every email you send, every keystroke and every click of the mouse. Google is a dangerous entity. They want control over the personal information of everyone on the planet.
Uh...run Ubuntu for free.
Microsoft, Google, Linux, forget them all! Instead take all the money you have left and run to the Apple store for your computer. Not only will you end up with a computer that will not enrich Microsoft or Google, but you will join the ranks of the enlightened Such as 1st thru 3rd graders all over the United States. People who have spent so much money on Apple products that they are stuck wearing the same corduroy sport coat with the decorative patches on the elbows and sandals year around. And if this is not enough you will never suffer from a lack of conversation starters (and finishers) since you are an Apple owner.
Funny video (please note the words on the screen shots)
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary
More worthless Linux hype.
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