Ryan is involved in Cookie Linux – based on Ubuntu with lots of work done on the kernel to get all the hardware supported.

Many manufacturers are leaving it up to the consumer to choose their OS.

A lot of innovation is going on towards a distro with very fast boot times, and a perhaps a focus on offline client apps (due to patchy mobile coverage/wifi).

What’s a priority for people?

• A lot of people prefer something they are familar with.
• MS have worked hard to catch up and get Windows on more netbooks.
• Windows 7 runs reasonably on a netbook

Problems with Linux include trying to get similar workflow – duplicating apps, etc.

Curry’s have been asking sales staff to sell Windows boxes, or sell Linux as though it’s exactly the same thing. This is obviously dumb – setting up false expectations, and disempowering the consumer.

A netbook is not really for much more than mobile apps. You can do serous work on it, but you woouldn’t want to for long.

Intel have been working on code that supports very efficient power usage by the Atom processor. Battery life is only going to increase dramatically.

At Cookie Linux a lot of work is going into the kernel. Would end users be interested in upgrading their kernel? Unlikely, unless the kernel is available as a .deb file, installable via synaptic.

Some Ubuntu netbook upgrades have knackered sound.

Three types of users-

1. school kids and students
2. people who own netbook like a “second car” to their main desktop or laptop.
3. developers and power-users.

There needs to be a focus on supporting the needs of group 1 and 2, and also the teachers of group 1.

A lot of schools are handing out netbooks to people who don’t have them, giving them the netbook at the point where they’re written off.

Has there been any research on how durable netbooks are? particularly in schools? Solid-state drives have proved very durable – need to run them for 3 years, 24/7 to wear out. So far, netbooks seem robust enough.

Netbooks can be viewed as disposable. Is this an issue? Are netbooks likely to accelerate the electronic waste problem. The other thing (perhaps the more important thing) about disposability is that if they get pinched, they’re cheaper, so less of a loss.

GPSs for netbooks? (security) And you can get a chip installed so that the police can track it. Would encrypting the whole hard-drive help? Ubuntu’s ecrypted home directory, for example.

Is cloud software the way to go? No! connectivity isn’t perfect – no connection, you’re in trouble. Drop box is a good alternative. One big issue with cloud based stuff is limited upload speed. In future, perhaps ISPs need to equalises download/upload speeds as more people work in the cloud.

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