Will the Litl be the next Apple Computer?
It was January 24, 1984 when the first Macintosh said, “hello”. It was the first successful personal computer that used images, rather than text to interact with the user. It wasn’t by far the first computer to have a graphical user interface and a mouse. A decade later, PCs would standardize on the concept through Windows and the rest as people say, has been history. Twenty five years later, the world as we know it is little changed from that first Macintosh design. Much of our computing relies on point and click. And much of our computing hardware follows the same pattern as that first PC that came out in 1981.
The past decade has been an experiment in different user interfaces. More and more the trend has been to make the machine humanized. From gestures to different user interfaces for our devices. iPhone OS was the commercialization of it. The commercial success of iPhone OS is spectacular. Say what you will about the borked AppStore process but the device and OS itself is revolutionary. iPhone OS is years ahead of what companies like Google and Palm are coming out with. Don’t even get started with the whole Microsoft genre, which seem tired and uninteresting.
As these experiments on software evolve, computer hardware design itself is also changing. The Litl is a small computer company with big ideas is one such experiment. Will the Litl be the next Apple? The look is a lot better than most netbooks in the market. The interface focuses on people’s digital lifestyle. Yet, it seems archaic now to have a new computer that didn’t sport a touch interface. The easy of use that they are attempting is what computers should be: they work for you, not you working for the machine.
And today, Google introduces Chrome OS. It is Google’s Chrome browser that runs on top of a Linux kernel and it is built for Netbooks.
With Chrome OS making the Web its central focus, are we finally seeing the first glimpse of a universe of cloud?
In five years, it becomes riveting what companies like Dell and Sony can do with this, what they can innovate from the loosening of the OS grip. It would be highly interesting what Mac OS X will look like in five years. So what of the desktop? Oh, yeah, we’ll still use those. Doctors, Designers, Engineers, Scientists need machines to build, study, develop things and in time, those too will change as new user interfaces work for us. It would be wonderful to see how this field changes the way people use computers. Computing becomes exciting and fun again. Computers work for us and are extensions of our will.
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What do you think of viruses in a cloud environment?
I’m not a security expert. IMHO, Malware will still exist. They still exist today and will naturally evolve. I think viruses per se, will slow down as malware developers will use other vectors.
The Microchip is being designed better and better. So, Computers
are getting more powerful and efficient. There are already
Prototypes for Voice Recognition:computers without keyboards. Where
you can talk to the computer. And the computer do the job. Some Prototypes are even connected to your brain. What you are thinking is transmitted into the screen. The BEST is yet to come on the Information Technology field. We will have surprises this coming year 2010.
Prototypes are experimental equipment. Built to test the feasibility
and marketability of a new product. We do this on cars, planes, and other equipment before marketing them. We have to be sure that many people will be buying them. To offset the Cost of Research and Development.
BrianB,
Working in a Cloud Base Environment is an excellent choice. In fact a great move, specially when you have a group of guys collaborating on a project. Then you are able to share file(s) via open net with the group(s) on the Cloud.
With the cloud environment, of course every file(s) that created by a user is maintain and dump into server unit. What’s great about this cloud atmosphere is that, all user(s) that are involve, are able to access one another computer. Of course with firewall connection.
We use Sun Microsystem System as our workstation. Hella awesome on the cloud base system. Linux and Solaris is the way to go.
Don’t wnt the computer to be an extension of myself. I want to work on something that’s a lot more stable with a totally worked-out characteristics and a limited bu reliable capability.
BrianB,
In this days of age, we cannot get away from computers.
Whether we use it our work environment or personal use, we just can’t seem not to get our hands off of it.
As far as personal use computer, you can pretty much have an array of choice out there. Mac’s are good, quite impressive and fast system for designer application. (then again, I’m no Mac user.) Now, if a total geek or a gamer, I personally recommend an Alien System. It kicks ass! (the peripherals on these systems are just well design and overclock) a well suited for gamers. Even the damn CPU is water cooled, rather than fan base.
Reliability aspect comes within you, as an admistrator of your own system. How do you allow others to having access to your personal computer. Remember, setting your BIOS is a good thing.
I’m still using my Osborne with 64K RAM. Maybe I should upgrade, eh? Purchased it in 1980, so it is only 29 years old.
Joe
Funniest thing all day, and I just watched the latest episode of The Office.
Hehehe your computer is about older than you are Joe, if we go by the speed technology is progressing.
RAM disc drives are now in Gigabytes, not Megabytes.
Computer Memories can even break thru the Gigabyte
limit in a few years.
Obsolecense of computer equipment is going on speed
of light level. The Hybrid of humans and computer
machine in the form of ANDROID may be possible. However,
I dont know; if we can deal with a machine that has
no EMOTION. Not capable to: love, care, sympathize, etc… It is unthinkable how we are moving in technology.
ricelender,
ouch.
The only clouds I know are the ones that constrict my thinking or dump big piles of water on my tin roof.
Joe
Amadeo – I had an Amiga 500. Sold it to a video production firm. There was no local market for 3D animation then, the perception was that it was very expensive. Customers opted for 2D renderings instead. Burned a lot of midnight candles with Sculpt Animate.
But no kidding this time. I still fire up my Apple //C every now and then to bring me back to the halcyon days of yore. No HDD, and RAM about the same as your Osborne.
A few minutes ago, i was just advised by one of my colleagues that Netbook sales are going down while standard Notebook sales are going up. The primary reason cited is the resolution of the screen and the crampiness of the keyboards which is not suitable for business applications.
It does not make sense to use netbook for business apps. for one, it is not designed for business apps.
the netbook is designed for light computing – checking emails, surfing, and instant messaging.
I like my Acer Aspire netbook, it is light, takes up a small amount of space. it spares me the trouble of opening up my heavier and bigger Dell notebook PC which contains the power apps – Office Pro, Macromedia Suite, GIS Apps, supply chain network modeling apps. Those same apps will choke the netbook.
on weekends, i no longer have to open the dell notebook PC, i just leave it in the car trunk.
i put the netbook in my backpack. with Sprint’s wireless broadband with speeds that averages 600Kbps to 1.4 Mbps with peak rates up to 3 Mbps – am a happy camper.
I use my Acer Aspire for everything. Gaming, database administration & development, GIS programming, network ndministration, test server. I never thought I would never need more than 1GB of disk space for data, now Im always lugging around 2 500GB external drive and 64GB thumb drive. But it has since been a chore for me to lug my laptop around. Those new Acers with 8 hour battery life are really neat and lightweight I just hope it can run on Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server. I hate Vista.
i have the acer aspire one – http://www.acer.com/aspireone/aspireone_8_9/
if i want its expanded features i hook it up to a docking station – hooked up to keyboard, mouse, drive, monitor, external dvd/rw.
i don’t feel it’s robust enough for photoshop-type operations. it runs winxp pro quite well.
cvj,
I also like using laptop, but I try to avoid it as much as possible, specially out in public. This is where my iPhone comes in handy. It’s like having a personal computer stored in your pocket. As for crampiness, not really much of a concern.
But here come Microsoft with this gadget.
["The Courier"] This system is going to make laptop run for their money.
This is where I really want to get my hands on.
I also tried internet-surfing on an iTouch but i find it too difficult to read. Anyway, as far as these gadgets go, things can only get better i suppose.
people forget that the components for making microprocessors and computers and the infrastructure to connect them, ie. palladium, nickel, gold, silver, platinum, copper even silica have to be mined.
it just so happens that human beings live on these lodes and so mining companies have to kill them so people can have their netbooks and internet connections.
electricity is also getting harder and harder to generate. no one wants nuclear power.
the computing power increases twofold every year but the fabrication costs rise twofold too
and as things are getting smaller, electronics are now disposable (no user serviceable parts ika nga) and eventually the rate of consumption will catch up with the cost of extraction.
finally, we can all return to being human beings again, drinking at cafes instead of reading blogs.
This is the trend of our civilization. Technology moving in
a fast pace. Our ways of life changes with technology. Our ways
of thinking: social, political, economic and religious. Changes
with technology.
Remember when they bleed people to cure them of their deseases?
Our concept of desease was changed when some progessive minded
Scientists formulated the concepts of: germs, bacterias, viruses, etc…
We must all change and adapt. It is part of life, as long as
it is a change for the better…
“it just so happens that human beings live on these lodes and so mining companies have to kill them so people can have their netbooks and internet connections.”
Makes me want to pay the ticket price for Avatar.
Google OS is promising a 3 second boot! I would like to see this.
I wonder when Linux will shine and take a significant portion of the market. Considering that its free to install, and has no viruses. It would be good for the masses although its complexity will always be a problem.
Go Ubuntu!
the relevance of boot up speeds is only in the movies when the bad guys are coming after they found out you are stealing their top secret data and you have to do everything in 45 seconds etc…
otherwise, boot up speeds are a bit pointless and boot up times inevitably go up as your hdd gets filled up anyway.
I actually thought of that way before. Because it really depends on the user who vary regarding their needs of added services and applications.
But if you think of the people who travel and use their laptops on the move, it actually makes sense. If you are waiting for your flight, or waiting for your order at a coffee shop, it’s an added benefit.
Hibernate the laptop when you close the lid. No boot-ups when you want to use it.
Linux (and other open source software) being ‘free’ makes it suspect in a corporate environment which is why the take up is slow. No one to sign a contract with and to sue just in case.
I never saw it in an enterprise perspective before. Makes sense. But even for personal use, it doesn’t get much attention.
What I’m really looking forward to are droids! :D
If you mean human-like droids, that would need quantum computing to carry out brain functions.
It is what is happening now…IBM made a computer some few years ago that played CHESS with a former Russian Grandmaster World Champion. Unfortunately, the computer lost. If the Microchips will be designed to be very efficient Integrated Circuits. Powerful Computers are a Possibility. Not mere science fictions.
I’m presently using Windows XP but planning to convert to Windows 7. Is that a good idea, or bad?
Btw, my hobby, aside from my being a guitarist, is video editing, and my pc peripherals are sort of high-ends. Is Windows 7 not problematic?
Bert,
Your XP/OS is pretty good system.
Windows 7 might have some minor tweaks, but we have to wait and see. What I like about W7, that it is capable of split screen. That’s if you have big enough monitor, to open other applications. So that’s a plus.
My personal workstation at the house is a Dell Studio XPS desktop running on XP Professional OS. I am so use to working with dual monitors at work, so I also have two 19 inch square Dell monitor butted together at home. By far better setup when running other applications at the same time.
If you’re considering upgrading to Windows 7.
You may want to run a system check, to see if your peripherals are compatible with Windows 7. Before purchasing this OS system.
Go to:
[Windows 7 system requirements]
Then upload the system check to your system.
These are the only two uploads you really need to do.
• See if your PC can run Windows 7.
•Check device and software compatibility.
Follow directions and happy trails.
Bert,
Even better and less confusing.
Just click on here:
[<a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor"Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor]
Scroll down and “Download the Windows 7 Uphrade Advisor”
Ooopps!
Try that again Bert,
Even better and less confusing.
Just click on here:
[Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor]
Scroll down to and “Download the Windows 7 Uphrade Advisor”
Most OEMs are heavily invested in WinXP platform. It is the case up to now. This is of the biggest reason why Vista failed aside from it’s horrible user interface, power hungry apps and zero support for legacy apps which made productivity go down instead of up. I hope this is not the case with the Windows 7 and hope it succeeds where Vista failed. Anyway, I won’t find myself wanting to upgrade to Windows 7 until many OEMs realize that investing in Windows 7 platform is good for their business.
Thank you mario and darwin25! Good tips, thanks guys.