Apparently Dell has previewed a new feature on their top end notebooks that allows users to carry out basic tasks without booting the main OS.
The feature, names Dell Latitude ON, allows users pretty much instantaneous access to a Linux environment with a web browser. Now if you think about a user who utilises cloud based applications for all his/her day to day operations, it’s not easy to imagine a scenario where the only reason to boot the full OS is to perhaps print a document, or run some other peripheral.
If this is the situation it seems somewhat strange to have the hassle and bulk of the main operating system at all – why not just roll the lite version through to the total user experience.
All of which remind me of a previous post of mine a year or so ago where I suggested that the future would be OS-less. Dell’s move is yet another validation of that concept.
So it’s going to be interesting taking part in the Office 2.0 conference in a couple of weeks where a installed apps rule is one of the touchstones of the entire conference – bring it on!
Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. 
You’re obviously not running Vista, otherwise you would already have this feature. My Vista notebook takes about 3 seconds to become usable from pressing the power button.