Windows in consumer PCs is 'unnecessary' claims Jolibook creator
by Steven Mostyn - Nov 19 2010, 12:15
Fluffy Jolicloud Netbook on the cheap... but perhaps not cheap enough. Image: Jolicloud.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, French hardware maker Jolicloud will today formally unveil its colourful new Jolibook ultra-portable computer in an attempt to educate the ignorant masses whilst actively pandering to Microsoft-haters everywhere.
How so? Well, the Netbook in question is an open-source platform that runs on the exclusive Linux-based Jolicloud operating system, which means there’s no place for Microsoft XP or Microsoft Windows 7—platforms that are “unnecessary” according to the Paris-based manufacturer.
“Who are the people who are prisoners of the old model?” asked Jolicloud chief executive officer Tariq Krim in reference to non-business consumers that purchase a Windows-equipped computer and then pay extra for productivity suites such as Microsoft Office and anti-virus protection from third-party security vendors.
“In the consumer world, Windows is unnecessary. And the elite, the early adopters, know about this, but it is not that well known for normal people,” he added. “For me, the cloud is a liberation from all the costs that make computing unnecessarily expensive.”
Beyond Jolicloud’s intimations that its Netbook is a correctly priced personal computer in a world of overpriced hardware, the inner workings hidden beneath the Jolibook’s vivid lid design certainly fit with current offerings.
Powered by Intel’s 1.5GHz Atom N550 processor, the Jolibook also carries a 10.1-inch display, a 250GB hard drive, support for HTML-5, and is also described as the first “Facebook” computer.
And what of the all-important retail price? Although not yet confirmed, the little cloud-based Jolibook is expected to open in the UK for 280 GBP, which, at first glance, is a thoroughly acceptable price for such a pretty Web-centric Netbook.
However, we here at The Tech Herald fancy the uninformed and pennywise might still shy away from a purchase—not least because the brand is not familiar, the computer doesn’t offer the ‘peace of mind’ that Windows apparently provides, and the asking price doesn’t perhaps reflect the production cost benefits associated with using an open-source platform as opposed to Microsoft’s licensed OS.
Still, it is very pretty.
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