talkingdigital.org

If Chrome can achieve these 10 feats, Google will not only defeat Microsoft, but Apple and Ubuntu will fall as the OS of the common man.

Chrome OS may be the OS that proves that the OS doesn't really matter

1. Instant on – Please power up in well under 30 seconds. There is no reason for an OS build around a browser to do anything less (or more).

2. 512 MB of RAM and 1Ghz processor – Give XP users a reason to skip Vista, Windows 7, etc. and give their old machine new life.

3. Make it USB bootable – Chrome OS could be a truly portable OS. Not only will your information be in the cloud, but a 2GB flash drive could turn all computers into dumb terminals. Find an computer, plug in your flash drive, POOF! your home computer is running in the motel lobby or public library.

4. Market Chrome OS as a 90 percent computer – The worst thing Google could do is  try to make Chrome OS a “do everything” OS. Don’t build it for gaming, video editing, etc. Just make it do what 90 percent of people use their computer for 100 percent of the time.

5. Function over fashion – The beauty of  the Chrome browser is its minimalism. RIM has proved to geeks and non-geeks everywhere that technology that works is better than technology that’s pretty.

6. Don’t try to put it all in the box – The world needs to learn how to download and install drivers. Ethernet drivers are the only hardware drivers that Chrome needs to support during the initial install. All other drivers could be posted in an easily searchable database. A nice side effect of this, might be a desire from companies to create more standardized drivers.

7. Off-site backup – I hate the idea of subscribing to Microsoft Office online, but I would gladly pay $10/month if I had 100 gigs of off-site backup where my entire system could be backed up regularly. Read the rest of this entry →

Cheap computers are everywhere. I say this knowing that cheap is relative. $600 to one person is different than $600 to another.

Some may think that $600 is high considering that the same $600 can buy you other items that will last much longer than 4-6 years and those things typically won’t break down or crash.

Is $600+ for a computer high when you compare it to a nice piece of furniture, art or a pretty good tuneup on your car?

Once you’ve purchased a computer, how much is too much to spend on a repair? When do you fix it and when do you replace it?

Sometimes we over simplify this decision process. We try to come up with formulas like, “If the repair cost is higher than one third the price of new, and the system is more than three years old, you should replace it.” However, there is much more to consider than a basic formula can offer.

No matter how much you spend on the purchase of a new computer or how much an upgrade or repair may cost, the true value of a computer is in the information, not the components.

If you suddenly lost your address book, how much would you pay to get it back? If you suddenly lost all of your photos, how much would you pay to get them back? If all of your financial and business data were suddenly gone, how much would you pay to get it back? Chances are that the value of one or more of these things exceeds the value of the computer.

The more I work with people and computers, the more I realize that computers can not be compared to anything else. Yet, people try.

People try to compare their computers to cars, appliances, and other items that we use in day-to-day life. Being a computer repair guy is far more stressful than being a washing machine repair guy. If the washing machine guy can’t fix the problem, does your entire wardrobe disappear? If he makes a mistake while replacing a belt, is there a chance that it will tear your clothes to shreds? Not really.

Working with computers is quite different. I have seen entire family photo collections disappear in an instant. I have seen years worth of financial data accidentally deleted. These are daily mistakes that have no equal in the world outside of computers.

There are two costs to every computer and both are equally important. There is the cost of the system itself and the cost of maintaining that system.

Buying a top of the line computer is worthless if you don’t spend a few dollars on a backup drive. Spending a few dollars on a backup drive is useless if  you don’t use it. Be honest with yourself and evaluate how important the data on your computer really is and how significant of a role it plays in your life.

This may be an eye opening process, but the sooner you realize it, the more you will take care of the information that the system holds.

OK, It’s been two weeks since my laptops were stolen, but I still haven’t completely gotten over it. What makes it slightly worse, is that I had just setup a Mac to take over as my primary desktop computer.

The Mac didn’t actually make the problem worse, but in order to set up the Mac, I had to move my PC to another desk. I didn’t get rid of it altogether.

I was fully prepared to use my Mac for all of my day-to-day functions but turn to my laptop around the house for email, Internet and other projects. I didn’t realize how much I had depended on my laptop over the past few weeks until they weren’t there anymore.

I have have been putting most of my computer time into making my life universal and compatible with all formats. I use Zoho.com for my document creation, NVU for my web editor, Firefox as my browser, Gimp and Picasa for photos and Thunderbird for my Mac and Ubuntu email app. I still use Outlook on the PC but I can’t remember why.

In the past month as I have been using my Mac almost exclusively as my home computer, I have found that it is a habit forming device. Concepts that are difficult concepts on a PC, like keyboard shortcuts and file management, are almost intuitive on the Mac.

When I tell people that I am migrating away from Windows in my personal life, I always get the same response, “Why?” They ask the question with an almost betrayed tone in their voice as though I have told them that I am leaving my wife.

I explain how easy the transition was and how I don’t have to mess with antivirus, spyware. disk cleanup and other utility functions that almost exclusively belong to the PC.

Their next thought is, “Maybe I should do that.”

I am not on a mission to turn people to Mac, but when faced with the option of moving to Vista or moving to Mac, I can’t form much of an intelligent argument for going with Microsoft.

Very soon, the only Windows machine I will be using on a regular basis in my personal life will be a MacBook with Vista loaded as an alternate OS. I still need Windows for when I am teaching my Basic Computer classes via the projector. Other than that, I can’t see myself using Windows personally for any practical reasons.

I have becoming fluent in speaking the language of Windows, I would like to one day speak, just as fluently in Mac, Linux, Google and Windows Mobile. I still don’t want to speak geek, I just call it talking digital.

I have had to fight back tears of joy as I put the newsletter together. At times I could barely read what was on my screen. The anticipation for changes in my life has probably lead to many misspellings and errors, but you may not notice as those errors probably still fall within our guaranteed 78 percent accuracy range.

I have looked forward to this day for almost a year – and it finally has come.

Early this year, Microsoft released Windows Vista. I knew that it wouldn’t be great, but as a computer guy, I felt compelled to use it so that I would understand how too work on it.

I didn’t want to commit my desktop to it just in case there were problems. So, I put it on my Averatec laptop with 1 gig of RAM, a dual core AMD Turion X64 and 100 gig hard drive. It seemed powerful enough.

Many Averatecs didn’t come with recovery CDs, but I didn’t see a problem with erasing Windows XP to make room for Vista.

It only took a few moments of using Windows Vista to realize how much slower my computer had become. The bootup time had more than doubled and I would get all shake y as I waited for it to shut down.

Programs opened slowly. I was sometimes able to connect to a wireless connection, yet I was not able to actually browse the web on networks that I knew were open because the XP systems right beside me were working fine.

Then two weeks ago Rick showed me something that would change my life. Averatec had posted Windows XP recovery disks for my laptop. I wasted no time and for $20, I ordered the disks.

Today, my disks arrived in the mail. I haven’t installed them yet because I can’t bring myself to stop hugging and kissing them. I should get to bed early tonight, but I feel like a kid on Christmas. I don’t know if I can wait any longer. I must install XP back on my laptop and make it feel loved again.

Thank you Averatec. Thank you for giving me back my Windows XP.

I will not be a bit surprised if no one is using Windows or Apple Operating Systems’ (OS) in five years. In fact, I thing the OS as we know it could be strictly used for business and enterprise in a lot less time than that.

Imagine powering up a computer in a matter of seconds then going straight to the Internet where all of your programs are found. Your computer would have a massive amount of storage, but you probably wouldn’t use much of it as most of your data would be kept in your online account.

Welcome to the future of Web 2.0.

Rather than simply using the Internet to read news and lookup recipes, the Internet is now an extension of your computer. Since it is online, that can mean that any computer can work just like your computer.

My wife does medical transcription. Every time she has to buy a new computer it means weeks of moving her customizations like dictionaries, spell check, and document settings from one computer to another as many of those can not easily be moved from an older system to a newer. Believe me we have tried – with mixed success over the years.

In the Web 2.0 world, she would use an online word processing program like ZoHo or GoogleDocs. Where she could get online and type in a username and password – suddenly a word processing program would open along with all of her customized settings. She could work from any Internet connected computer in the world.

Today if you have a massive hard drive crash, fire of theft of your computer, all of your data will go with it – unless you backup. Tomorrow such a disaster will be hardly a disaster at all as online storage services like AmazonS3 and OmniDrive provide affordable – if not free – online storage of files.

Why use Quicken to manage your finances when you can manage your bank accounts and online portfolio at sites like Expensr.

These are just the online applications, Web 2.0 will bring you maps, shopping guides, classified ads, market tracking and more. There are two primary differences between a standard website and a Web 2.0 site.

1. The site is customized to your needs and

2. The information can come to you wherever you are.

If you are watching the classifieds for a new tandem bike – you can receive an alert on your cell phone or email when one is posted. If you are waiting for a house to hit the market in a given neighborhood, you can be notified. If you need the phone number for the nearest tailor, simply text the word “tailor” and your zip code to a special number.

The more the Internet evolves, the more we realize that it is only in its infancy and every age becomes the golden age.