Computer maker Hewlett-Packard is officially interested in creating a new netbook based on the Google Android operating system, though the company hasn’t officially confirmed any Android-based products.
The company is currently "assessing the capability that Android may have for the computer and communication industries," an HP spokesperson recently said.
Android is a free, open source OS that has mainly been used on mobile phones, though Google always intended it to be used for netbooks and other devices beyond phones. The Open Handset Alliance has quietly gained members interested in Android development for a wider variety of Android-enabled platforms, with Vodafone, Toshiba, Sony Ericsson, and others currently serving as members.
Most manufacturers creating netbooks, notebooks and PCs use Microsoft Windows, but there has been a growing demand for free, open source software as a replacement to Windows products. For example, HP hasn’t dropped Microsoft software completely, but relies on its own custom software with some of its netbook offerings.
Specific details have not yet been released by the company.
"We are the world’s leading computer company," according to the spokesperson. "It only makes sense that we would want to understand all the operating system choices in the marketplace that may be used by our competitors, and we also remain open to considering various approaches to meet the needs of our own customers."
9 Comments
Bullsh*t it'll never happen... Win 7 will be out way before they could even get the chance. I think Win 7 will even outsell XP netbooks. that leaves very little room for "experimentation".
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 02 Apr 09 01:30
Bearing this is mind, will there be any Win 7 notebooks? Win 7 which seems to be Vista with different clothes and a tweak here and there? Will Win 7 change the resources requirement equation dramatically? Uhmm....
For one thing, it is too expensive and as you say, it needs a lot of RAM. MS dropped the fee for XP to netbook vendors as they noticed they were missing out on a new, important market. But, to keep prices low on these items, they were forced to drop the price of XP to enter the game.
Yes Win 7 has even been optimized for netbooks. In one hands on of the beta I read about, they were able to open 100 windows without getting a low resource warning. So, Win 7 can handle memory usage better than Vista, as Vista uses memory in a linear fashion, increasing depending on how many open windows you have.
Battery life or optimization is reportedly a focus as well with 7. MS recognised that Linux was a bit of a threat on these small notebooks. They also see that notebooks are outselling PC's right now. So, I guess they are focusing on that segment.
But, as always with M$, better to wait and see for oneself before believing what they say.
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 02 Apr 09 16:15
Perhaps the 70+ services that come shipped with vista is the real reason why it blows!! windows 7 beta 7057 comes with only 32 services default on .. all the rest are manual so meaning they are dormant untill you set them to run
Been running Vista since it came out but with all the garbage services disabled. My vista runs 18 processes. My old xp ran only 10 processes. So the problem is go back to simpler times = less crap = faster speed. Microsoft is learning fast that the linux train is heading their way Ubuntu is really pushing Microsoft now..
At any rate, they have to do something to "cheapen" it or else folks are gonna get pissed if they pay twice as much for a PC or Notebook version. This could be a mess.
I really hope that Google tries to take some of the market away from MS. Anything would be good and would be a better choice for consumers instead of mainly 1 choice.
"Criticism
- Tethering (internet connectivity to a laptop or pc via the cell phone) is forbidden and Google has banned such applications. This comes at the urging of T-Mobile who states this practice is a violation of their cell phone service agreement.
- Android is based on Linux, but it is not really a Linux stack (even according to Google). Its specific nature makes it difficult to reuse existing Linux applications or libraries.
- Android does not use established Java standards, i.e. Java SE and ME. This prevents compatibility among Java applications written for those platforms and those for the Android platform. Android only reuses the Java language syntax, but does not provide the full-class libraries and APIs bundled with Java SE or ME."
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