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The Netbook Craze

February 24, 2009 13:18 by author

There are a couple netbook stories out there today and I wanted to address a point from each of them. The first is a Wired article by Clive Thompson that claims the XO-1 PC from OLPC inspired the netbook craze we are now seeing. This claim was made earlier this year by OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte and now seems to be the party line.

But here’s the thing: It’s not true. What we call a netbook has been available since AT LEAST 2002 because I owned one (the HP Jornada pictured here). So this is not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination.

Beyond that, the Asus Eee netbook (considered the device that spurred the current fad) doesn’t resemble to XO-1 at all. It’s got a smaller keyboard and screen, a different processor, a more traditional power system, etc… Quite frankly, I’m hard pressed to find a resemblance between the two devices.

Anyway, enough about that.

The second article is by Brad of liliputing.com and he asks why are netbooks becoming so popular?

The way I see it there are a few reasons…

Processing power has come to the point where you can now run a full OS on a netbook sized computer (as opposed to one specially built for a mobile device)
Flash memory has dropped in price and increased in capacity to the point that it can house a full blown OS and still have room to spare
A lot of people are starting to realize they use their PC as a glorified typewriter and don’t need all the bells and whistles of a full blown system
Portability is becoming more commonplace thanks to high speed cellular networks and tethering
Most consumers want notebooks but end up with PCs because they don’t want to pay the premium. The netbook creates the mirage of a notebook without the premium price and most consumers aren’t savvy enough to know the difference between it and a normal notebook.

Honestly, I have to say I’m getting really excited about the netbook market. The fatal flaw in early netbooks was that the keyboard was too small but with devices like the HP Mini 1000 and Dell Inspiron Mini 9 we’re starting to see keyboards that are almost full sized.

In my agency, like in any company, there are a lot of people who need computers to do very minimal tasks. It doesn’t make sense to buy these people full on computers but up until now there had been no choice. The netbook provides a nice alternative in these situations and it’s portability makes it enticing to users as well.

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February 24. 2009 10:05

I really don't understand why that Wired article is getting so much praise. It seems that Clive Thompson didn't actually read "The Innovator's Dilemma," because this excerpt from his article is completely wrong:

"Netbooks violate all the laws of the computer hardware business. Traditionally, development trickles down from the high end to the mass market. PC makers target early adopters with new, ultrapowerful features. Years later, those innovations spread to lower-end models.

But Jepsen's design trickled up. In the process of creating a laptop to satisfy the needs of poor people, she revealed something about traditional PC users. They didn't want more out of a laptop—they wanted less."

The fact is that nearly EVERY new technology has risen from small niche markets, where small companies were able to develop a new technology until it met the needs of the companies up-market. That was Christensen's whole point, and why the market for laptops was created in the first place. For this reason, the netbook is probably going to replace the laptop altogether (insomuch as a netbook is considered a light, solid-state machine). Solid-state storage is the future, and when it becomes large and reliable enough to replace the hard-drive, it will, because it is a superior product. All of the best features of solid-state- being lighter in weight and lower in power consumption offset the fact that it had a lower storage capacity and a very finite number of times to be used- until those limitations were raised to the point of bleeding into the hard drive market- all of which is straight from Christensen's book.

It's not the leaps made in solid-state storage that are going to redefine personal computing, however. Rather it is the leaps made in bandwidth and centralized storage capacity. Just as smaller hard drives allowed computer manufacturers to build smaller machines, higher bandwidth is allowing software companies to move software into the cloud. Cable companies should take note of this movement as well, because it won't be long before streaming video over the internet will be comparable to what you get from your digital cable box.

Daniel

February 25. 2009 22:19

I just wanted to say thanks for the great comment. I'd been unable to post due to server weirdness on my hosts side. But I really enjoyed reading your thoughts.

Tom

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About Me

Hi, I’m Tom and I run the IT department for a non-profit agency which provides treatment to special-needs children. Though I will (like any blogger) comment on technology in general my main goal is to detail how I’m trying to use technology to help treat the children we serve and its my hope that blogging will allow me to connect with people who can help in that goal.

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