Netbook OS Wars: ChromeOS vs. Windows 7 vs. ???
The next great battle for domination over Operating Systems for netbook and smaller class devices is upon us. Chrome OS vs Windows 7, with a few others like Moblin, Jolicloud, Android, and a couple other flavors of Linux out in the wild. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months and years, especially with the next generation of hardware due out.
The Atom and Ion processors are game changing chips helping to fuel this (r)evolution. I believe the Intel Atom, Moorestown, and Medfield processors will be as important, if not more important than the original Pentiums.
I've been hacking around with netbook class hardware for about 9 months and have a multitude of netbooks, nettops, and I just recently completed the buildout of 5 new Atom-based desktops that each cost $191. The Intel N280 chip that is powering the Asus Eee 1005HA that I'm typing this on is an amazing chip that only consumes 2.5 watts of power. Pretty cool to see my battery meter say "10 hours" of life left. This is also made possible with innovations in energy efficient backlit LED technology.
I see this as the beginning of a new wave of innovation in software, hardware, and computing in general. It opens the door for developers and engineers to rethink the traditional Human Computer Interaction (HCI) patterns. In the coming months and years, sw and hw platforms like ChromeOS, Windows 7, Atom, Ion, and Medfield will drive more pervasive computing models helping bring access to more and more people and an entire new class of small, powerful, smart, always-connected devices.
With announcements recently from Nokia about plans to use the forthcoming Intel Moorsetown and Medfield processor line for its next line of smartphones and similar mobile devices, it's only a matter of time before the floodgates open to a whole new class of smart always-connected internet devices.
I'm very excited about using all this shiny new hw and sw tech to tackle some really hard problems.
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