The Quest for the $100 PC
This Monday’s Boulder Daily Camera featured the article in their Business Plus section titled “A non-pricey PC” about a local Boulder company, 303 computers, that is refurbishing PCs and selling them for $100, operating system included. The idea is that once these computers are refurbished, “…people can do the basics such as typing, checking e-mail, and surfing the Internet, Angell said, noting it will not be as fast as a new computer.”
If this is all these computers will be good for (which describes the bulk of what most people ever do on a new computer these days) Why not take a slightly different approach. Replace the bulky operating system and applications with a Google OS. The Google OS would essentially consist of a bootloader, a few drivers and system management code, and a single application: a web browser. With this web browser you can surf the Internet, check your email, and use the plethora and ever growing number of Google web applications such as Docs and Spreadsheets for your “typing” needs. No bulky OS or applications that need constant updates and cause users countless hours of frustration. No need to deal with installing new applications - just click on the link when Google announces theirs. You could probably eliminate the need for a hard drive (a 1-2G compact flash should suffice) and you could probably reduce the RAM requirement.
With web applications of this nature, it finally makes sense for the computer industry to come full-circle and reintroduce the dumb-terminal. Design a Google OS for the refurbished PC’s now, and while you’re at it, put some development effort into designing a new device, the GooglePC (GPC pronounced ‘Gypsy’) I imagine the GPC to be a low-cost small-footprint embedded tablet PC of sorts. Turn it on and it boots in under 5 seconds, already connected to your Google homepage for you to surf and “type” to your heart’s content. The GPC could then transform 303 computers from a company that serves the discount customers to one that is ready to profit from the next wave of personal computing. Who knows, maybe in a few years Sun or Google will be interested in acquiring your company.