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Linux-Based Instant-On Trend Spreads Out

As noted over at JKOnTheRun Lenovo has joined forces with the DeviceVM folks behind SplashTop to produce a netbook computer with instant-on web capabilities. We've written about SplashTop before, and laptops from Asus using the Linux-based SplashTop operating system. Incorporating applications such as Firefox and Skype, SplashTop lets you instantly get web access via a browser, and run applications such as Skype without having to wait for your system to boot. Here's more on where this trend is headed.

The promise of instant-on has been around the technology industry for more than 15 years, but it's only recently that we're starting to see systems arrive that truly let you, say, jump onto the web to check the weather in a remote city without having to wait for a system to boot.

SplashTop is an embedded Linux operating system that is able to execute instant-on by being very lightweight. The SplashTop marketing mantra is "zero to Internet in seconds," and the operating system comfortably coexists with both Windows and other Linux distros on many new portable computers.

In the Lenovo netbook, model S10e, the SplashTop functionality will be branded as "Quick Start." I'm not going to be surprised to see Instant-On arrive on nearly all Windows- and Linux-based portable computers, and not just netbooks. This piece in The New York Times agrees that Instant-On will end up fundamentally changing how people think about using their portable computers. 

• linux
• Splashtop

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