Phoenix goes into virtual hyperspace

PHOENIX TECHNOLOGIES IS TRYING to get into the consumer hypervisor market with a new entry called Hyperspace. It looks quite promising, but there are a few cautionary notes to keep in mind before you dive in.

The idea is simple, when you press the power button, it wakes up the laptop into a VM with Linux running a stripped down set of services to get you on the net very quickly. It is aimed at the non-technical user, so everything is icon based and simple. The very nature that allows it to boot quickly also gives it the ability to run on very light-duty netbooks.

Phoenix Hyperspace

There are two versions one that allows for essentially dual booting, and the bigger brother that lets you run both it and Windows side by side. Each variant is a separate product, so pick one or the other. Actually, the hardware OEM will probably do that for you, Hyperspace will probably just come bundled with your next notebook.

On the up side, it boots really quickly, in seconds. When we say boots, that means fully up in Firefox and able to surf, not the way MS plays with the terms. Sitting with the desktop initially drawn and everything frozen while several GB of TSRs load and services crawl to life is not fully booted.

Even if you have time to boot the machine, if you only want to surf, Phoenix claims Hyperspace will add 20-30 per cent to your battery life. They don't need to run all the useless Windows background tasks and DRM, so it works much more efficiently. What's not to like?

The way it functions is simple, instead of going to full sleep or hibernation, Hyperspace adds a mode called hot sleep. This puts most things to sleep like you normally would, but keeps some critical circuits awake to boot and access the net in much less time. This means no re-negotiation when you press the power button, and everything works quickly. You pay the price in a little more power used, but that is tolerable, especially if it is plugged in.

There are some down sides, and most of them are financial. The first one is there is an app store. This may sound good, but to us, that says things are going to be closed down, and you will get nickel and dimed to death. Let's hope we am wrong here, but since it is not working yet, only time will tell.

Price is also the thing that will keep me away from Hyperspace. It is nice, but Phoenix is going to charge $40 for the dual boot version, and $60 for the side by side variant. If this seems reasonable, that is a per year subscription. They will target OEMs, so you basically buy the laptop and get a year free, or worse yet, you get the 'full version, worth $500 for a 90 day trial' when you buy.

For the money they are charging, we don't think Hyperspace will take off, much less fly. Consumers tend to hate this kind of thing, and if it comes with the laptop, fine, but it's doubtful many people will renew when things expire. I wouldn't.

Hyperspace is a good idea, but has two severe limitations. The price, and the fact that it will only work with Windows. The target audience is moving past malware-infested platforms and subscriptions, so why aim there? Both problems are solvable, and if Phoenix does solve them, Hyperspace could be a good thing. If not, some competitor will slot in the gap, and the consumer will win either way. µ