Category: Kev’s Blog

Microsoft have annouced their latest Windows flavor, for the ‘Ultra Mobile PC’, which up until now which has been referred to a Project ‘Origami’.

Ultra Mobile PC is a version of Windows Tablet PC Edition together with smaller form factor hardware. From looking at the pictures on the Microsoft site though, the devices really aren’t that small, and certainly not small enough to fit in your shirt pocket – you’ll still need a laptop bag of some description to carry it around. Plus what I defintely don’t like – no keyboard. If you really need a touchscreen capable laptop, then I would go with one of the existing Tablet PCs that come with the foldable/rotatable screens that fold down over the keyboard – these I think are the best of both worlds.

I deliberately abandoned my Palm Pilot because I got frustrated for not having a keyboard (ok, so I got an add-on keyboard, but thats not the same). I had an original US Robotics Palm Pilot from 1998 up until just a couple of years ago. What I got instead was a Windows CE device, the HP Jornada, because it comes with a keyboard. If I need to type notes or work on a document, I am not going to sit and scribble with the stylus on a touch screen – it’s just too much effort. Even the Windows CE Palmtop version I think was discontinued in favor of the Pocket PC Palm Pilot form factor, so I had to pick up a Jornada on eBay (which actually worked out as a good deal).

Other options I would consider if you are looking for a small laptop:

• Toshiba Libretto
• One of the smaller Sony Vaios

TiVo are to end the option to pay for a lifetime subscription for new customers in favor of higher priced monthly subscriptions. The higher monthly cost will come with the box for free, but the monthly charge will be $19.95 for a one year contract or $18.95 for a two year subscription.

The reason for elliminating the lifetime subscription is that it turned out to be too much of a good deal in favor of the customer. We took a lifetime subscription on our TiVo box when we bought it almost 4 years ago and it’s still going strong (apart from the occaisional harddrive grinding noises…) so we’ve been enjoying the service for free now for some time, compared with if we took the monthly subscription option.

$19.95 seems too high to me to attract any new customers, even if the hardware is free. I believe both the DirecTV and Dish options that come with a DVR (even though not TiVo) are a lot less than these suggested monthly fees, so I think the majority of people would take the lower cost option with their satelite provider rather than pay an additional $20 on top of their satelite fee.

According to speculation from industry analysts and discussed in this blog here, Scott McNealy, the CEO of Sun Microsystems is expected to resign. He was quoted as saying that he is planning on staying with the company “until the job is done”, which from interviews by analysts with McNealy includes the following goals “reestablishing product superiority, regaining control over costs and igniting demand in a broad and balanced customer base”. Analysts already believe that these goals have been met, which raises the question of when McNealy is planning on stepping down.

This speculation is somewhat plausable. The next part of the blog entry goes a whole step further and suggests that if and/or when this happens, would Google see this as an opportunity to buy out Sun? Wow. Now that would be interesting. Already being labelled as the ‘new Microsoft’, if Google bought out Sun they would instantly become a powerhouse on a different level. For one they gain control of Java, and a hugely loyal developer base, plus a wide customer base not only of users of Java-based systems, but users of existing Java-based products from many companies. Secondly, Google becomes a hardware/server provider. This could be an interesting move for Google, especially to inject Sun’s hardware into their existing Google Search Appliance business.

Would this be a good move for both companies? I think so. Google is desparately looking to expand and branch out to become more that just the ‘Google Search website’, and has some of the best minds in the industry working with them. To take on technology assets like Java would suddenly gain them far more interest from the industry. For Sun, I feel they could benefit from an injection of new enthusiasm that a smaller company like Google would bring. It would be an interesting move, but I think beneficial.