- Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal - Oscar Wilde
Android netbook is a possibility
IT LOOKS LIKE GOOGLE is doing some work to make its Android operating system work on netbooks.
Matthäus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann who run an outfit called Mobile-facts claim that it took them just four hours to compile Android so that it works on a Asus EEEPC 1000H. They have been showing off their half-day's work here.
They reason that if Google, armed with its Chrome browser, went for the netbook market, it could make a fortune and end up fighting Microsoft's shy and retiring Steve Ballmer in his own back yard.
Ballmer has repeatedly dismissed Android as competition to Windows Mobile, but what about damaging it in an area where Microsoft has not got total control yet?
While Windows has appeared on netbooks it has mainly been Windows XP, something that Steve would rather was dead and buried. The only problem is that netbooks don't have the hardware to cope with Vista or what will become Windows 7. This has left the way open for Linux to fill the gap.
However, while Linux is getting more user friendly, it is unable to shake off the 'geek's friend' image that it has. So if Google could shove a shoe between the door with Android it could be set to make huge wodges of cash.
Krzykowski and Hartmann claim Google could get an Android netbook to market in three months, depending on the partners they would have to form alliances with.
They are fairly sure that Intel is one Google partner working on the adoption of Android to a notebookm platform.
Since mass production of the netbooks would be possible between three to nine months, they think that a mass-market netbook will be in the shops late 2009 or 2010.
But what Google has to have to make the cunning plan do-able is having all the software that a notebook user might want ready. The search engine outfit has really left the development of some of the important software to third parties.
For Android to work in netbook land it needs to have a dedicated set of office tools. While Google Docs is a start, it does not work with lots of other software that punters will want. Other things that need to be developed are suitable language options.
But the question is, can Android compete on a better spec when the likes of Windows and Linux are doing quite nicely? Even if Google did come up with a suite of software it would be sold on the same basis as Linux. In other words, it would be free.
But free software is not enough to draw the punters in, otherwise we would all be running Linux. Google has been building up its various support operations as it started rolling out its Google web-based operations to businesses. However, it is still very small and inexperienced in this area, particularly in comparison to Vole.
If Google does pull its finger out there is no doubt it will be a welcome player in the netbook world, but it is likely to face all the problems that both Linux and Microsoft face in that market place. It is therefore unlikely to manage global domination. µ
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I think you'll find virtually every netbook out there can run Windows 7, albeit the beta, just fine.
My pre-transmeta Vaio C1 can't!
Ok, so those things have pitiful quantity of RAM etc, but I can get X, firefox and all the other stuff I need running just fine in a fairly stripped-back Slack installation.
Yes, so I am being contrary- though on some level, I really hope that Win7 doesn't suck- as there is no bloody way I will ever use Vista on my Win boxes, and XP is getting a bit long in the tooth now. If win 7 is any good, and it priced more sensibly, then I shall be cheering too..
That said, screw renta-windows. Also screw spending a three-digit amount on the OS. I'd just pirate Windows for my gaming machine then, and keep all the rest of the machines on Linux, MacOS and FreeBSD (as they are at present).
MS actually have an opportunity to not suck right now- the win 7 beta is surprisingly good, even on my eee901. Let's see if they deliver- for once.
There's no denying the fact that Google can deliver excellent user interfaces. All their web apps have excellent user interfaces, that are actually useful and intuitive and let you do things quickly. So I think if Google ventures in the OS arena, it will be a really good thing. We'll have a chance to get rid of Volish domination. I don't mind Google's domination. They aren't evil.
Though I'd really hate to buy a beta notebook. lol
Android is Linux based OS but kind of handicaped one. It can run ONLY Java apps converted to use Dalvik VM.
What it actually means, today it may be good for phones, but it can't compete with "normal" OS that can run programs written in any language including this of Andrroid. Shall I remind you that both Win and Linux have thousands of apps for any taste ready for use ? Think about it, on the netbook, people still need apps like messengers, browsers (not the only Chrome), Office, music players, movie players, torrent clients, photo browsing/editing software and many more.
Netbook is not phone, it's PC. Slow one, but still PC. With next generation of netbooks having dual cores (Intel's Atoms, VIA's Nanos and whatever AMD brings) inside with normal (probably Nvidia) graphics capable of HD playback, Android will not survive. As for Intel's support, it has Moblin that is mature Linux distro optimised for devices with limited resources, but scalable to unlimited resources.
There is no such thing as perfect OS. So every one will have it's share. I do hope Linux will become more popular since it can bring ARM and PowerPC (CellBE) likes to my PC instead of ugly x86.
I'm afraid your wrong about netbooks and Windows 7.
My experience is that even the "pre-beta" editions of Windows 7 run better on a netbook than Windows XP.
Yes, my point exactly to the comment above-- I swapped out Xp for Windows 7 RC on my Aspire Acer One (it took some squeezing- but there's good how-tos for the googling out there) and after some patience and tweaking- voila- a sleak, clean $299 Windows 7 machine, glass aero interface and all. And yes: it DOES run faster than Xp! The hardest part, I assure you, was figuring out how to make a bootable USB drive with the OS... the rest was cake- a long time in the oven for the compression, but cake nonetheless.