Google's Secret Weapon: Webtop

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Exciting stuff

Meet Google's secret weapon for fighting Apple and Microsoft


Google could integrate Webtop directly into the next version of Android so that virtually all future Android phones could be PC replacements. The technical barriers to doing this would be minimal. While Motorola has generally been coy about disclosing the technical details of Webtop, Chau revealed that Webtop and Android run on the same Linux kernel.
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I just do not see this as a key feature. Sounds like a lot of confusion. Turn a phone into an underpowered desktop? Why on earth would I want to do that?
 
cerebus said:
I just do not see this as a key feature. Sounds like a lot of confusion. Turn a phone into an underpowered desktop? Why on earth would I want to do that?
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Depends on what you do day-to-day.

In my environment this would be perfect. 99% of the systems I work on are hosted, ie all processing is being done on servers. All I need is a device that gives me RDP/ICA/VNC/etc.
 
cerebus said:
I just do not see this as a key feature. Sounds like a lot of confusion. Turn a phone into an underpowered desktop? Why on earth would I want to do that?
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the hardware will develop with the software so by the time phones are powerful enough, the software will be mature. But right now you can take everything around with you. Journalist? carry all your articles around with you, get home and plug your phone in and work on a big screen. Makes sense.

Ubuntu are doing this very thing, except their software is a full blown linux desktop and multimedia center
 
Granted you won't be playing Crysis just yet, but for my day to day work I am sure the next gen phones that are coming out now will have enough power
 
unskinnybob said:
Depends on what you do day-to-day.

In my environment this would be perfect. 99% of the systems I work on are hosted, ie all processing is being done on servers. All I need is a device that gives me RDP/ICA/VNC/etc.
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Our business is mostly cloud or server based so it would suite me as well.
 
I think it would be brilliant.

Come home, plug your phone into your big screen TV, grab your bluetooth keyboard and away you go.

Going forward, you most likely will plug your 2TB external drive straight into your TV and transfer your stuff from the phone onto it.

So your phone will become your pc as well.
 
This concept IMO has already been done in a different form factor and failed I.e. netbooks proved that underpowered equipment will not be popular in the long term.

So until the computing power in mobile devices starts to leap frog full computers, don't expect any retail success in this area... I'll hedge my bets on never...

Also net PCs are not a new concept; these concepts have been tried by all and sundry -- guess what it too failed miserably.

People don't want compromises...
 
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ZAFluffyBunny said:
Granted you won't be playing Crysis just yet, but for my day to day work I am sure the next gen phones that are coming out now will have enough power
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I doubt this very much... As much as processing technology moves ahead, so too does the demands software makes on it.
 
[)roi(];8123708 said:
This concept IMO has already been done in a different form factor and failed I.e. netbooks proved that underpowered equipment will not be popular in the long term.

So until the computing power in mobile devices starts to leap frog full computers, don't expect any retail success in this area... I'll hedge my bets on never...

Also net PCs are not a new concept; these concepts have been tried by all and sundry -- guess what it too failed miserably.

People don't want compromises...
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To be fair your argument regarding netbooks failing is kind of incorrect for multipal reasons.

Netbooks where never designed to replace PC's they where designed to give us freedom away from PC's and current smartphones and tablets fill that role better and in effect killed the netbooks.
In order to replace a PC is not only a factor of ability but also a state of form factor, in order to attempt this you need something to transform/fill both. Something the netbook never promised or delivered. People would rather have a full sized screen and keyboard, something a phone + dock can supply.
 
Elimentals said:
To be fair your argument regarding netbooks failing is kind of incorrect for multipal reasons.

Netbooks where never designed to replace PC's they where designed to give us freedom away from PC's and current smartphones and tablets fill that role better and in effect killed the netbooks.
In order to replace a PC is not only a factor of ability but also a state of form factor, in order to attempt this you need something to transform/fill both. Something the netbook never promised or delivered. People would rather have a full sized screen and keyboard, something a phone + dock can supply.
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Well I beg to differ, netbooks were at a point similarly to tablet computing and net PCs pitched to replace the majority of full computers; yet today we have smartphones, tablets and guess what full computers.

Simple Google search supports this view: http://www.google.co.za/search?q=ne...ooks&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

So ask yourself this question: what is this proposed solution really better at than our current 3 categories?

The answer IMO is that it is not, therefore this idea won't be going anywhere.

For a solution to survive it has to fundamentally better at something, this just seems to me like too many compromises.
 
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[)roi(];8123744 said:
Well I beg to differ, netbooks were at a point similarly to tablet computing and net PCs pitched to replace the majority of full computers; yet today we have smartphones, tablets and guess what full computers.

Simple Google search supports this view: http://www.google.co.za/search?q=ne...ooks&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

So ask yourself this question: what is this proposed solution really better at than our current 3 categories?

The answer IMO is that it is not, therefore this idea won't be going anywhere.

For a solution to survive it has to fundamentally better at something, this just seems to me like too many compromises.
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I fail to see how your Google search is proof of anything?

I can for example Google. "Sex reduce chance to get cancer" and will get blogs and people talking about it, still would not make it a fact or scientific proof.

But then again its just that my opinion vs yours, anyway moving on. The argument that it has to be fundamentally better can be addressed by the fact that your entire computing environment moves with you so it is no longer bound to a single location and that is the key in today's ever moving/changing world.

Anyway this is not something that is unique to any one OS or even OEM, they all moving or shall I say pushing for this change. From Apple to Microsoft Intel and even IBM, they all envisioning the post PC era, and that more than anything is all the proof I need for me to see it as the future.
 
Elimentals said:
I fail to see how your Google search is proof of anything?

I can for example Google. "Sex reduce chance to get cancer" and will get blogs and people talking about it, still would not make it a fact or scientific proof.

But then again its just that my opinion vs yours, anyway moving on. The argument that it has to be fundamentally better can be addressed by the fact that your entire computing environment moves with you so it is no longer bound to a single location and that is the key in today's ever moving/changing world.

Anyway this is not something that is unique to any one OS or even OEM, they all moving or shall I say pushing for this change. From Apple to Microsoft Intel and even IBM, they all envisioning the post PC era, and that more than anything is all the proof I need for me to see it as the future.
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Google search = proof that the topic was debated, what else did you expect?

Portability has many benefits this we all agree; where I don't is that current technology is capable of fulfilling this space -- now if IBM could conquer either quantum computing or it's new oxygen based batteries then it could be very possible that we could put top of the line processors, power hungry processors in mobile devices.

This is the stuff of dreams, pratical it is not.
 
[)roi(];8123782 said:
Google search = proof that the topic was debated, what else did you expect?

Portability has many benefits this we all agree; where I don't is that current technology is capable of fulfilling this space -- now if IBM could conquer either quantum computing or it's new oxygen based batteries then it could be very possible that we could put top of the line processors, power hungry processors in mobile devices.

This is the stuff of dreams, pratical it is not.
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That's just it. we not cutting top of the line.

We moving it. Instead on giving every person access to a simple CPU on every desk, we giving them access to super CPU's doesn't matter where thy are.
 
Elimentals said:
That's just it. we not cutting top of the line.

We moving it. Instead on giving every person access to a simple CPU on every desk, we giving them access to super CPU's doesn't matter where thy are.
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Sorry but what articles do you substantiate this with...
And who has been successful to invalidate the need for full computers...?

Sorry but things like coding, or working on a word / excel document is crap on a phone or tablet (even with a keyboard or external monitor).

These devices are great for on the road consumption, but crap at content creation.
 
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[)roi(];8123788 said:
Sorry but what articles do you substantiate this with...
And who has been successful to invalidate the need for full computers...?

Sorry but things like coding, or working on a word / excel document is crap on a phone or tablet (even with a keyboard or external monitor).

These devices are great for on the road consumption, but crap at content creation.
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That I agree with but that's not docking your phone to a monitor and keyboard, running office something that the article covers and that Microsoft will bring in Windows 8 with new Office suite.

Yes I know we not the in the here and now, but lets talk again in a year or 2, it still is the direction we headed in.
 
Elimentals said:
That I agree with but that's not docking your phone to a monitor and keyboard, running office something that the article covers and that Microsoft will bring in Windows 8 with new Office suite.

Yes I know we not the in the here and now, but lets talk again in a year or 2, it still is the direction we headed in.
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Hey I've said more than once I'm all for getting rid of some form factors -- just don't believe it's ok to sacrifice anything in the process, hence it must be better at doing the stuff that existing devices do.

For example if I could do everything using Google glasses I'd be one of the first to go this route; unfortunately they're no where close to that.
 
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