Comments on: The Disruptive Power of Netbooks http://ctovision.com/2008/12/the-disruptive-power-of-netbooks/ Context for the enterprise technologist Wed, 16 May 2012 16:27:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: CTO Bob Gourley http://ctovision.com/2008/12/the-disruptive-power-of-netbooks/#comment-241 CTO Bob Gourley Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:39:40 +0000 http://ctovision.com/?p=7#comment-241 Thanks Ian, I really like that context. I'm still personally torn about netbooks, we were just looking at them a couple days ago and are really close to buying. But as you mention, the Air is pretty cool, and for many functions the Blackberry is just great. Your background and context will help me sort out my personal decisions and are most appreciated. Bob Thanks Ian, I really like that context. I'm still personally torn about netbooks, we were just looking at them a couple days ago and are really close to buying. But as you mention, the Air is pretty cool, and for many functions the Blackberry is just great. Your background and context will help me sort out my personal decisions and are most appreciated.
Bob

]]> By: Ian H http://ctovision.com/2008/12/the-disruptive-power-of-netbooks/#comment-240 Ian H Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:58:53 +0000 http://ctovision.com/?p=7#comment-240 I guess the MacBook Air counts as being somewhere in between a netbook and a full-fledged laptop. I have run two of them, one as a corporate machine and one as a machine for my wife's travel writing business. I am a fan, but, that said, we haven't reached nirvana yet. Some observations from both the corporate and the home office side: Security. My employer is very security conscious and installs a ton of security programs on every officially imaged laptop. These include various systems to support remote users, such as VPN software, but also a lot of attendant programs for automated browser cache cleanup, a separate application access environment for once you're on the internal network, etc. Macs in general are supported machines per IT policy, but in reality many of the programs you need in order to have fully-fledged corporate network and application access require a Windows client, so that means running VMWare or the like for a number of tasks you need to do. Not a big deal, but the same would be true for Linux netbooks. Which brings us to: Hard-drive capacity. The basic infrastructure you need to get secure access to a corporate environment takes up a lot of space, between the base operating system, any virtual environments you have (think not only application access but also demo images if you are in the demoing business), plus all of the extra goodies your IT dept loads on, so that leaves little room for your own content. My corporate Macbook Air has about 5Gb left out of 60 once you set up the environment, which is fine if all you do is produce documents, but author some graphics-rich PowerPoints or do some screen captures, and it's not a lot of space. Multimedia considerations. For the occasionally connected such as my travel writer spouse, there's the requirement to do a lot of local work, especially when you're dealing with media such as photos and video. Sure, you can use a browser to author your blog from your hotel room (save your work often, though :-), but photo and video editing requires some serious memory and hard-drive capacity. Form factor: since the Air still has a full-sized keyboard and decent screen size, you don't have the downsides of what I've heard about some netbooks. For those of us who are touch typists, if the keyboard is inadequate, you might as well use your Blackberry or PDA of choice to do quick authoring. I find that I can do 95% of what I need to do in the email/calendaring environment on one of those -- a netbook wouldn't do enough more for me to warrant carrying another device. I guess the MacBook Air counts as being somewhere in between a netbook and a full-fledged laptop. I have run two of them, one as a corporate machine and one as a machine for my wife's travel writing business. I am a fan, but, that said, we haven't reached nirvana yet. Some observations from both the corporate and the home office side:

Security. My employer is very security conscious and installs a ton of security programs on every officially imaged laptop. These include various systems to support remote users, such as VPN software, but also a lot of attendant programs for automated browser cache cleanup, a separate application access environment for once you're on the internal network, etc. Macs in general are supported machines per IT policy, but in reality many of the programs you need in order to have fully-fledged corporate network and application access require a Windows client, so that means running VMWare or the like for a number of tasks you need to do.
Not a big deal, but the same would be true for Linux netbooks. Which brings us to:
Hard-drive capacity. The basic infrastructure you need to get secure access to a corporate environment takes up a lot of space, between the base operating system, any virtual environments you have (think not only application access but also demo images if you are in the demoing business), plus all of the extra goodies your IT dept loads on, so that leaves little room for your own content. My corporate Macbook Air has about 5Gb left out of 60 once you set up the environment, which is fine if all you do is produce documents, but author some graphics-rich PowerPoints or do some screen captures, and it's not a lot of space.
Multimedia considerations. For the occasionally connected such as my travel writer spouse, there's the requirement to do a lot of local work, especially when you're dealing with media such as photos and video. Sure, you can use a browser to author your blog from your hotel room (save your work often, though :-) , but photo and video editing requires some serious memory and hard-drive capacity.
Form factor: since the Air still has a full-sized keyboard and decent screen size, you don't have the downsides of what I've heard about some netbooks. For those of us who are touch typists, if the keyboard is inadequate, you might as well use your Blackberry or PDA of choice to do quick authoring. I find that I can do 95% of what I need to do in the email/calendaring environment on one of those — a netbook wouldn't do enough more for me to warrant carrying another device.

]]> By: Adam Roades http://ctovision.com/2008/12/the-disruptive-power-of-netbooks/#comment-239 Adam Roades Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:31:42 +0000 http://ctovision.com/?p=7#comment-239 Bob, netbooks are definitely an "at last" disruptive innovation. But I think that it's really a reflection of where we've come as tech user: we realize that we can get 90% of what we need done using a lower-powered machine. Why, indeed, should we pay 3-4 times the price when all that extra computing power is only used occasionally? That said, there are people, tasks, and times for which a netbook simply won't work. I love my new Dell Inspire Mini, but I wouldn't consider using it as a full-time (primary) machine. The keys are too small, the hard drive too small, and the processor too slow for "real" image and video editing. But...I can still do 90-95% of what I need on it. And it weighs almost nothing, so I'm much more likely to keep it on me for short trips. Bob, netbooks are definitely an "at last" disruptive innovation. But I think that it's really a reflection of where we've come as tech user: we realize that we can get 90% of what we need done using a lower-powered machine. Why, indeed, should we pay 3-4 times the price when all that extra computing power is only used occasionally?
That said, there are people, tasks, and times for which a netbook simply won't work. I love my new Dell Inspire Mini, but I wouldn't consider using it as a full-time (primary) machine. The keys are too small, the hard drive too small, and the processor too slow for "real" image and video editing. But…I can still do 90-95% of what I need on it. And it weighs almost nothing, so I'm much more likely to keep it on me for short trips.

]]> By: CTO Bob Gourley http://ctovision.com/2008/12/the-disruptive-power-of-netbooks/#comment-238 CTO Bob Gourley Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:20:25 +0000 http://ctovision.com/?p=7#comment-238 Jeffrey, thanks, those are very very good questions and that was a great article at ComputerWorld. One thing for sure, security always needs to be engineered in at the beginning. I guess I need to find a place that can independently evaluate the security of these netbooks and give us assessments on which are secure out of the box. Of course, that term secure is a relative concept, so we need details of how they stack up with the current very ugly very vulnerable systems fielded with other architectures. I'll keep looking into that and will report here when I find out more data. Jeffrey, thanks, those are very very good questions and that was a great article at ComputerWorld. One thing for sure, security always needs to be engineered in at the beginning. I guess I need to find a place that can independently evaluate the security of these netbooks and give us assessments on which are secure out of the box. Of course, that term secure is a relative concept, so we need details of how they stack up with the current very ugly very vulnerable systems fielded with other architectures. I'll keep looking into that and will report here when I find out more data.

]]> By: Jeffrey http://ctovision.com/2008/12/the-disruptive-power-of-netbooks/#comment-237 Jeffrey Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:42:16 +0000 http://ctovision.com/?p=7#comment-237 I like the whole concept of Netbooks, but I'm very worried about security issues with them. Perhaps you've seen this article at ComputerWorld on the topic yesterday? <a href="http://bit.ly/paTI" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/paTI</a> Here are a few of the concerns mentioned: "reduced resources also limit their ability to run add-on security software, such as data encryption and anti-malware tools." Many, if not most, [ultraportables] are sold without Trusted Platform Modules because they are targeted at the consumer market," says Rob Enderle, an analyst at Enderle Group in San Jose. "This means they either don't have encryption solutions or the solutions aren't that robust." "most ultraportables aren't designed to be managed centrally and therefore can't have their solid-state drives remotely wiped clean of data in the event of loss or theft." "Ultraportables' wireless capabilities also make it easy for them to disgorge stored data to unauthorized parties. Ciabarra believes that Wi-Fi vulnerabilities are a potentially big problem. "Everywhere an ultraportable goes, it can be logging into networks and exposing its data," he says. "The user often isn't even aware this is happening." I love the concept, Bob, but for secure Enterprise computing? I think that's a niche that's still waiting to be filled with something akin to a Netbook "Toughbook". I like the whole concept of Netbooks, but I'm very worried about security issues with them. Perhaps you've seen this article at ComputerWorld on the topic yesterday? http://bit.ly/paTI
Here are a few of the concerns mentioned:
"reduced resources also limit their ability to run add-on security software, such as data encryption and anti-malware tools."
Many, if not most, [ultraportables] are sold without Trusted Platform Modules because they are targeted at the consumer market," says Rob Enderle, an analyst at Enderle Group in San Jose. "This means they either don't have encryption solutions or the solutions aren't that robust."
"most ultraportables aren't designed to be managed centrally and therefore can't have their solid-state drives remotely wiped clean of data in the event of loss or theft."
"Ultraportables' wireless capabilities also make it easy for them to disgorge stored data to unauthorized parties. Ciabarra believes that Wi-Fi vulnerabilities are a potentially big problem. "Everywhere an ultraportable goes, it can be logging into networks and exposing its data," he says. "The user often isn't even aware this is happening."
I love the concept, Bob, but for secure Enterprise computing? I think that's a niche that's still waiting to be filled with something akin to a Netbook "Toughbook".

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