talkingDigital

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.