Wouldn’t it be great of your computer turned on like an appliance?
Here at Splashtop we constantly think about how people use computers. The other day, Sergei came across this blog post from HP about just that subject…
The author, Susie Wee, categorized common PC usage into three categories:
1. Computer as a platform
2. Computer as an appliance
3. Computer as a browser
Taking into consideration what we’re doing here at Splashtop, this blog post is really fascinating.
First, with Splashtop, you get to the Internet seconds after you press the power button. The Splashtop browser is based on Firefox 2 with a Flash plug-in, so all popular web sites work perfectly. We also added Skype and IM into the mix, since we believe consumers want a complete internet experience. If you’re one of those people who find yourself using the browser most of the time, Splashtop gives you the best experience.
We also think of Splashtop as an Internet appliance. Appliances (think of a TV set or a stereo) can be instantly turned on or off, are simple to use, and excel at a few tasks for which they are designed. We are really good at getting you online fast just like a toaster is really good at making toast. That’s the way computers should work.
The platform is where Splashtop is different than a traditional operating system. Because we’re focused on getting you online fast and efficiently, we don’t feature a lot of applications that traditional operating systems support. High-end gaming or video production come to mind as applications that rely on a full Operating System.
I’m always asked how Splashtop compares with Windows. I think the goal of Splashtop says it all:
Get you to your favorite web applications seconds after you hit the power button.
It’s hard to get your head around the idea that a “pre-boot” Operating System can momentarily turn your computer into an internet appliance. We see Splashtop as a complementary environment to Windows. Windows and other Operating Systems like Ubuntu and OSX provide an application platform. If you want to play that high-end game, for instance, you’re going to need that traditional operating system.
Thanks to Susie Wee at HP for the insightful post.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
about those “traditional OSs”
i would love an option in splashtop, so that it suggests a full distro in case you don’t have a main OS installed yet.
suggest a good userfriendly distro like ubuntu or your own derivative (a full version of splashtop: splashOS). Being live-USB would be cool.
Heck, why not even include a lightweight CD-burner app, so i can burn my photos, Music and even a Distro or maybe would be better to pass these files to an usb-stick?
splashtop could be the door to the full “Splash experience”, as traditional OS will be needed for very long time
June 11th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
on a side note i just installed ubuntu from the downloaded image using unetbootin, no CD burning needed.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Manny - I think that’s a great suggestion - I’ll pass it on!
June 24th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
[...] At Splashtop, we really believe in this positioning. As I explained in this post, we see ourselves as the perfect OS companion. This is even more true for a Netbook which is ultra-portable, generally has a smaller battery and needs to be constantly turned on and off. [...]
July 16th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hey guys, I’m laughing my ass off… just learnt of the existence of Splashtop and I think it’s gonna be the greatest killer-app in decades.. and the first victim is Windows! I say Windows OS is going obsolete. Well done!
My next computer is going to be (if not a Macbook) a PC with Splashtop and all my apps on Google!!
Good luck!