Netbooks - A Springboard for Web-based Computing by Dan DeRemer, IT Specialist

With the netbook platform popularity taking off, many people are beginning to take notice of operating system alternatives to Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Cloud computing is a concept that has recently begun to take on some notice. Amazon has released a cloud computing service called Elastic Compute Cloud under their Web Services program which allows for users to essentially borrow computing power from Amazon’s server clusters. This concept is beginning to infiltrate other aspects of computing. The netbook has the stigma of being a cheap, underpowered notebook computer specializing in web browsing and email. What better way to increase the netbooks usefulness than to tie it to the “cloud” for a little extra horsepower. Google already has a cloud based service called Google Apps that consists of email and document management/creation services.
As cloud computing has gained popularity, it seemed only a matter of time before someone would try to jam the cloud computing experience into an operating system. That’s where Google’s ChromeOS and other projects such as Jolicloud and gOS Cloud 1.0 are positioned. Each of these products are full blown operating systems based off of the free, open source operating system called Linux. Each product uses its own customized version of Linux but customized to fit their needs. The benefit is a small, lightweight operating system that can do more out of the box than Windows. Most netbooks come with Windows XP and out of the box, you are lacking office document software and other productivity apps because of how Windows XP is packaged. With a web or cloud-based operating system, you can achieve much more without the need to purchase additional software because the services are typically free and accessible via a web browser.
Cloud computing is definitely a worthy cause but tends to be a concern to many people due to the reliance upon an internet connection and a third party to host those services. Essentially, if you choose to create Word and Excel documents with Google Docs (part of Google Apps) you are relying on Google to continue to provide this service. If Google experiences an outage of any kind that affects Google Docs, then you are unable to access the service.
I see the future of cloud computing benefiting many but most specifically the younger generation. The facebookers, the twitterers and everyone who already spends much of their life in the cloud. The Jolicloud operating system provides direct access to those services and then some (Skype, Meebo, Youtube are also available as “apps” in this operating system). Netbooks may not make sense to a power user but the future of netbooks is promising and may influence a shift in how the desktop operating system is used.