Re: [PLUG] Ubuntu pulls the 'official' plug on Kubuntu

[Rich Freeman <r-plug@thefreemanclan.net>]

On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 11:16 AM, Art Alexion <art.alexion@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> People are strange, though.  I am startin g to see people get bulky covers
> and even bulkier ones with keyboards for them.  These accessories increase
> the size and weight so much that they may as well be netbooks -- except you
> can do more with netbooks -- and do it more cheaply.  Kinda reminds me of
> laptops as "desktop replacements".  Laptops so big and powerful that they
> ...

Couldn't agree more on all points.  If you're looking for something
more netbook-like ChromeOS might be a serious contender - assuming you
can live exclusively with browser-based apps (which is the biggest gap
on that platform).  It comes preconfigured with full-disk encryption
and if you use Google Apps it has management capabilities as well.
The design of it is that if somebody loses or breaks one you just give
them another one and the salvage the original (that only works if it
is completely synced to the cloud of course).

However, it is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation since few
web-based apps really make effective use of offline storage, so if
you're between cell sites you can get into trouble.

I've always seen a tendency for end-users to get into
everything-looks-like-a-nail mode when they really like their hammer.
A tool that is great for one set of functions gets used for others.

However, sometimes I think the reason that tablets are so popular
right now is that it is almost impossible for corporate IT to tweak
them.  The fact that you can't load poorly performing software
patching, full-disk encryption, and antivirus solutions onto them
means that they actually are usable.  My work laptop takes about 15-20
minutes to become remotely usable after I start it, and from time to
time I find myself staring at an hourglass for a few minutes as it
churns.

Oh, and the other advantage of tablets is none are older than a year
or two.  Those same tablets might not seem use fancy after the 6-year
corporate replacement policy kicks in.  It is pretty easy to take any
brand new piece of hardware and compare it up against the
5-year-old-laptop many people carry around and have it work better.

Rich
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