Comments on: Watch (or take part in) a crowdsourced product

By: Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:11:58 +0000

@tom

one word – proprietary vs open (well two words but you get my drift)

By: tom b

tom b — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:49:58 +0000

leaving aside the OS side for a moment – what’s the difference between the TCIT WebTablet and a better version of Amazon’s Kindle?

It seems to me that alot of the functionality for the tablet is already delivered by the Kindle (esp. long battery life) it just needs to look cooler and move away from being locked to proprietary content (though note that Amazon covers the wireless cost to the user in exchange for selling content)

I’m probably missing something obvious – keen to know what!

By: Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:07:11 +0000

yup

By: M Freitas

M Freitas — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:39:04 +0000

So it is an OS then. It’s just that the browser is the OS interface…

By: Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:28:11 +0000

OK MF here goes – my vision is to have a browser that includes all the stuff that an OS does. Bear in mind we’re talking very little OS functionality – a few drivers, the comms stuff etc etc. It’s be interesting to have someone give us the true lowdown on the following

-Current size of separate OS + Browser
-How much duplication there currently is with seperate OS and browser
-Possible memory/speed benefits to be gained by bringing it all together

By: M Freitas

M Freitas — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:23:42 +0000

Hmmm. But all computers need an operating system. An OS is responsible for managing multi-tasks, managing device subsystem communications and so on.

A tablet like this will have a touch sensitive screen, at least a wireless ethernet adapter, a power managed CPU, and so. Each one of these needs to be “managed”. This is the OS function.

Even a browser needs to be managed. Unless you make the browser the OS, in which case let’s call it what it is.