MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Sep 12, 08 - 01:50 pm Comment from: Cubert

My prediction: the new Macbooks to be released in a month or so - $999 (back again).

"The goal may be to make HP less dependent on Windows . . ."

That's just silly. The next groundbreaking and more funner version of Windows is only 3 to 5 to 10 to 15 years away. And then another and then . . .

LOL - nice take MDN

Sep 12, 08 - 01:59 pm Comment from: JAYGEE

I could do well, but if people move away from Windows, they tend to go to the Mac, but that may be because the Mac is easier to use than Linux. If HP make a Linux based OS for their hardware, things could get interesting.

I say go for it HP, as I can't see Windows getting better anytime soon. It is good a business strategy preparing the company for a world with out Windows.

Sep 12, 08 - 02:01 pm Comment from: kirkgray

Hey, if Microsoft can do it, how difficult can it be?

it makes sense to me and i hope HP does it.

New MacBooks starting at 929.99- sounds good and is below the 1000.00 mark. Yea, can dream.

Just improve in small amounts and look what happens. The market starts to strain as a market moves. Then large almost unchangable starts to change. Good sign, more innovation and perhaps even cheaper prices.

Microsoft, get ready to photocopy- Apple makes things simple, elegant, and steadly..... Whoooooooooa, copy is broken now?!

Windows COULD get better, but it won't. What they need to do to Windows is a ground-up complete rewrite that breaks backward compatibility. They're convinced that no one will buy Windows if it won't run a 12 year old character-based version of Zork III, and that's not true.

But it really doesn't matter, does it?

"Hewlett-Packard, the world's No. 1 PC maker, has quietly assembled a group of engineers to develop software that will let customers bypass certain features of Vista..."

Too bad http://www.litepc.com/products.html doesn't have a Vista-compatible product yet. I mean, for all those losers that don't only use Mac hardware.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Sep 12, 08 - 02:07 pm Comment from: Shieldzee

Seems to me the perfect storm is brewing for Microsoft to start to die. iPhones and Macs are working their way into the enterprise. I work for a NASDAQ traded company with a global reach, 2000+ employees and iPhones are popping up everywhere. And, shocker, Macs are starting too as well. Google releases Chrome. Windows box assemblers (HP, Dell, etc.) are getting tired of waiting on Microsoft and are starting to put in place little ways to work around/independent of Windows. How long before they do what HP is talking about in this article? Vista uptake continues to lag, MS is putting out ads with old white guys that make no sense. Applications are moving to the cloud, whether it be through Google or something else. If functionality can all be there, without the headaches, what is my compelling reason for ever buying Windows? The fat lady is polishing the horns on her Viking helmet...

"... concerned that Apple could develop a notebook computer that would sell for less than $1,000." Luckily for HP, Apple's notebooks start at $1,099; so I guess they're safe for now. 8-)

Seriously, the notion of a non-Windows, especially one based on Linux, is laughable. Would they be relying on Wine to run those Windows apps? More likely, they'd try to release a version stripped to its core foundation. But given that the boundary between OS and bundled apps has never been clean, separation would be painfully difficult. Recalling the Justice vs. Microsoft trial, they spent a lot of time on the viability of pulling Internet Explorer out of Windows. I doubt it's much easier today.

It strikes me that rather than building yet another desktop OS, which would only put HP a decade or so behind Windows and the Mac OS, it would be more effective to leap frog the desktop OS world. The desktop world is diminishing. The cloud is where it's at, or going to be within the next few years.

HP should partner with companies like Google and concentrate on building personal Google machines, or PGMs.

This would be a thin client primarily targeted at running Google Apps over the Internet and selling for less than $300.

Sep 12, 08 - 02:09 pm Comment from: TowerTone

"I'm John McCain, and I disapprove of this headline...."

Did HP just call Windows a pig?????

Sep 12, 08 - 02:16 pm Comment from: Cascadians

The multi-touch iTablet, which does absolutely everything, at $949, will kill off all other pretenders to the throne.

Hmmm... I seriously think a 3rd platform is emerging in the Cloud. Imagine all of your basic administrative functions living in the cloud. Calendar, Contacts, E-mail, Finances, Project Management, all that sort of stuff already lives there. All you need is a little, {cough}, Chrome polisher and you're there. You really don't need some $2000 dual core fire breathing machine to manage your contacts and print the occasional list.

These sorts of functions can live on your Android Phone, your HP Google Machine, etc.

Apple and Microsoft are doomed. Oh well, at least they can sell iPods and Zunes.

Sep 12, 08 - 02:18 pm Comment from: ron

Funner??? That's a word?

For HP and others, that could even be their only and last hope to keep on selling PCs!!

Sep 12, 08 - 02:20 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

Linux?... for Consumers? Who are they kidding?

How many user-friendly applications are readily available that are easy to install and use?

This is not news. HP has been doing lots of Linux development for the last ten years. And as noted, what are all these ostensibly disgruntled users going to run on their Linux boxes? Linux has been around a long time. If people wanted it, they'd have it by now.

Non-strategy if there ever was one.

Sep 12, 08 - 02:23 pm Comment from: shen

"'Our customers are looking for insanely simple technology where they don't have to fight with the technology to get the task done,'

thats just crazy talk!

@mr.reee

as unix is to osx. linux to... hp-os?

they would only have to build a shell for linux, and include drives for the components HP sells in each machine. hp will have to push for third party printer drivers, but they are big on printers too, so at least they can roll out their own printers to be ready for their os.

i can really see this working. of course with a lot of hard work, but still possible.

Little hope for an HP OS.

My experience of HP printer drivers is of massive bloat and problems galore...

ron:

It was just a play on funnest. Relax.

It would take HP forever to develop an operasting system. It's not in their DNA. Besides they make crap PC's!

The HP OS code modules will have a built-in self-depleting feature.
They will run dry every two weeks forcing you to buy replacement code cartridge refills.

Sep 12, 08 - 02:33 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

@curious

that's fine, but I believe Apple can compete in that space. Google isn't going to supplant Apple or Microsoft in your lifetime.

I can't speak to Android because I don't own one but I will say that the iPod/iPhone and the App Store already has a seven-year head start.

Leave Sarah Palin aloooone!

How disrespectful.

@nick

good one lol

Sep 12, 08 - 02:35 pm Comment from: Demon

The tight Conquistadors are pinching the Hardware Vendors backsides and It would be good to see them to get a backbone and start biting back.

Sep 12, 08 - 02:49 pm Comment from: CYxodus

The reason HP is doing this is to put pressure on MS to make a better version of Windows.

"Apple is a huge motivating factor," says the source,"

Good. Everybody benefits when there is competition based on innovation.

But Leo LaPorte swears that Vista is all better now....

Sep 12, 08 - 02:53 pm Comment from: Demon

Fragmenting up the OS Market into say 5 to 20 different OS choices based on hardware Vendor would be good for everyone in the end. Except the software Vendors that are so Windows Centric it would be impossible for them to move to cross-platform support.

IBM should resurrect OS2 Warp for Lennovo.
Or create a desktop version of AIX for Sony
Sun should release a desktop version of Solaris.
HP should do a desktop version HPUX for it's PCs
Who ever owns the BeOS code should get a wiggle on and release an OEM it to a Hardware maker. Dell would most likely stay with Windows.

"The reason HP is doing this is to put pressure on MS to make a better version of Windows."

That's like telling an alligator to slow down and chew his food first.

Sep 12, 08 - 02:55 pm Comment from: s

Considering office suites and many applications are moving toward web apps written in Java or Javascript, HP or other PC manufactures could come out with a Linux or BSD based operating system, which is very good at running Firefox or Google Chrome, but nothing else. Back to old computer business model, where Operating Systems were background software no one really cared about.

exactly. and if there is enough of a market within that OS platform. independent software creators can sell their apps etc.

i see this is a great thing in the future.

ps. bring back the amiga

Bill and Jerry will need more lube on those churros.

I'm surprised nobody has tried this before. Way to go is copy Apple's strategy but with a well thought out OS based on Linux and a bundled suite of apps that does everything most people want to do.

Apply some design to the box, sell it at the right price and it should fly.

MS days of bullying are numbered.

Sep 12, 08 - 03:38 pm Comment from: HMCIV

Sub $1000 Apple Notebook? It's called the iPhone/iPod touch. Good luck w/ that innovation HP. Seriously. If you can figure out how to innovate on top of Vista, that's worth some kind of recognition.

Did you use "lipstick" and "pig" in a sentance? That can only mean you are insulting Sarah Palin! How dare you! I am offended.

"MS days of bullying are numbered."

And its number is Six hundred threescore and six?

Sep 12, 08 - 04:10 pm Comment from: oh no my shorts

HP is no stranger to Unix. HP-UX, their proprietary Unix OS, has been in commercial release since 1983. The current version, 11i v3, scales to the following specs:

* 128 processors
* 2 TB main memory
* 32 TB maximum file system
* 16 TB maximum file size
* 100 million ZB storage

Sep 12, 08 - 04:14 pm Comment from: alansky

"For us [HP] it's about innovating on top of Vista."

Talk about building a house on quicksand!!! It is not unfair to say that Windows Vista—especially when you consider the big build-up preceding its long-overdue release—has been the most spectacular disaster in the history of computer software. That's not an easy thing to accomplish. Microsoft should be proud!

Sep 12, 08 - 04:20 pm Comment from: oh no my shorts

Oh, yeah, here's the link to HP-UX:

http://h20338.www2.hp.com/hpux11i/cache/324545-0-0-0-121.html?jumpid=go/hpux

Seriously, it sounds like many of you only know of HP as a consumer printer and PC company. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Their presence in large enterprise is... well, large.

If HP decide to get serious about building an alternative operating system to Windows, I would say they're one of the few companies that have the engineering background to pull it off.

HP could come out with a dual boot machine, one that does Vista for people that have MS stuff, and then, reboot in to HP-OS and have a basic, simple, easy to use and reliable box for web surfing, writing letters, photography, video..... hmmmm sort of like iLife but without Windows.

They could offer the dual boot system with and without Windows installed. For people like my mom who just want to do the simple stuff, who needs Windows? The Window-less version could be a little cheaper and have an option to add windows later.

Frankly, I've wondered for years why HP did not do this.

Sep 12, 08 - 05:12 pm Comment from: HotinPlaya

Snow Leopard for the "Intel World"

If any of these box makers - Dell, HP - have to guts to devote a substantial resource in R&D;to create an easy Linux with customer fit into their own $500 notebooks without fear of MS retribution, it could own the future PC market, not to mention actually "innovate" BECAUSE they don't have to fit into Windows and actually have stuff comparable to Apple. Fortunately none of these guys are smart enough or daring enough.

Did you use "lipstick" and "pig" in a sentance? That can only mean you are insulting Sarah Palin! How dare you! I am offended.

Nice try. Obama's intentions were very clear, however he tries to spin it.

And if it WAS accidental, it shows a glaring lack of statesmanship skills. What happens when he insults, say, Russia or North Korea in a similar manner?

As for HP? It's gotta suck to rely so heavily on MS.

And eMachines is gonna come back with their own re-branded OS, based on BeOS.

eMachines BeOTCH!


...or not.

Sep 12, 08 - 06:48 pm Comment from: oh no my shorts

@Macs King -- good idea, but go one step farther. For the people who want it, why not virtualize a Windows shell on top of Linux? HP already has full virtualization under HP-UX:

http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/cache/258348-0-0-0-121.html

I'm not an HP-UX geek, although I have done some work under it. It's a mainframe Unix, it's not a desktop OS. All I'm saying is, they've already got the foundation in-house, just like Apple built OS X on top of Next's BSD/Mach. They aren't starting from scratch.

All HP would have to do -- if they wanted to -- would be to scale their enterprise HP-UX down to desktop proportions and build a nice GUI front end. Add Windows emulation, and Presto... they've got their own desktop OS.

The question is, do they want to compete in this arena.