There’s a lot of hype at the moment about Splashtop, Hyperspace, Presto and other “instant on” Linux desktops that are supposed to give you access to everything you possibly need without having to wait for Windows to start.

As I was planning to reformat my laptop soon I thought I’d try them out and see if the dream was actually real for either me or my family. Sure, I work for Microsoft but before joining here I used OSX and various Linux client configurations so I’m open minded. I have also been using Win7 for quite a while so I set that as the bar.

Splashtop

First up was Splashtop. Sadly there’s no end user configuration for that. You have to have hardware with it installed on. If anyone wants to lend me a netbook with this on to have a play with I’d love to see how it stacks up, but I suspect it’ll face the same problems I encountered with the other two.

Hyperspace

Hyperspace was the first one I could actually install and play with. Installation is pretty simple for the end user considering that it re-partitions your hard drive and makes itself the default OS. I’d really have liked it to give me the choice what I wanted as default and you should be aware that re-partitioning on the fly can be pretty dangerous (and the uninstaller did not remove the redundant partition automatically which was a real pain)

The desktop in Hyperspace is heavily locked down. There is a fixed toolbar that includes some apps I would never use and links to sites I’d never visit. If the product was free and made money based off the click-thoughts I could accept it but as this actually expects me to part with money I don’t think that’s okay.

Installing other apps seemed to be pretty limited so if you want a different Instant Messenger client or browser you’re probably out of luck. There doesn’t seem to be a native mail client so if you’re not online and able to do everything in the cloud you’ve got a fast booting paperweight.

Oh, and USB mice are not supported so you’d better like your trackpad!

Ease of installation was great, but on the whole the downsides were too much given that startup wasn’t that much less than the fully functional Win7 build on the same machine.

The limitations are such that I didn’t even want to put this in front of the family as an option. While I’m sure Rhiannon would have been able to play games there’s no integrated iPod experience.

Presto

Xandros Presto was a lot more pleasant an experience overall. The installation was, like Hyperspace, pretty straight-forward though it has the advantage of not creating its own partition, it installs into the existing Windows NTFS file system. It doesn’t make itself the default OS so you have a few seconds after a reboot to choose it otherwise your normal Windows desktop starts up.

Uninstall was equally clean (though I have since re-installed it!)

Similar to Hyperspace again this isn’t free, though there is a trial period so you can kick the tires. Xandros have been in business for quite some time with a user friendly Linux distribution with an integrated applications catalog that makes it easy to find, try and buy applications. They’ve followed the same model here but it’s more flexible than the other options.

There is a default toolbar docked with some apps already loaded but their forums show you how to get to the underlying OS to change, reconfigure and generally do what you need to do – always assuming there isn’t a GUI app that you can download from the catalog to solve the problem.

The biggest issue I have with Presto is that the app catalog offers older versions of some of the apps I wanted to use. Evolution Mail and the Exchange Connector for instance were not current enough to connect to our Exchange server (though the IMAP/Gmail connector worked fine) and there’s no link to Chrome as an alternative browser. I was however able to install the Moonlight Linux port of Silverlight without any problems and the pre-installed Flash version was okay for casual games.

Because Presto runs from the same disk partition as Windows I was able to access files from the main operating system which was a bonus.

… but is it worth 30 seconds?

Both Presto and Hyperspace start up about 30 seconds quicker but seem to have significant functionality issues that mean unless what you want to do is web based, and you have a connection, there’s not much advantage.

The Linux desktops are getting better but still lag behind OSX and Windows in usability (especially the later Win7 builds) and while Presto does let the user under the covers to tweak you’re really heading down the rabbit hole into another world if you’re just looking for a simple solution.

Because they’re stripped back they are fast – performance was great, but as most real operations are going to be web bound that’s not really a huge selling point.

I didn’t notice significantly better battery life with either of the solutions. Maybe if they were installed on a Flash drive and the hard drive spun down totally we’d see some benefit. Hardware issues like the lack of a USB mouse, wired ethernet not working properly and lack of support for the full screen resolution on my laptop makes me think that they’re not quite there yet…

With Win7 having much better support for low end hardware I think the choice for an operating system for low end machines (or quick startup) is going to become much more hotly contested in the future than it is today where the competition is Vista.

One of the coolest things about my new job seems to be the number of toys that have gone rushing over my desk in the last few weeks.

Most folks assume that they just get “given” to us, and for some devices (such as the TyTN II and the Mirage) they are – but only for a very short time then they have to go back to the Mobile Demo team or their real owners because my excuse to play with them is over.

Most however have been paid for out of my very own pocket. Not expensed and not donated. I really must do something about that.

So… what is in the picture this month?

At the top is my UMPC. It’s a Samsung Q1U and I like it very much. It’s recently had some surgery to give it more RAM and it’s now very much more usable. I’m not a fan of the split keyboard though and to be a really useful machine it needs a better battery and a faster CPU (and a faster hard drive!)

Below that is the telephony suspects. My Shadow, then a BlackJack II, the TyTN II we used for the Silverlight demo at Advance08 and finally the Samsung Mirage (SGH-i780).

Because all of these phones apart from the Shadow have GPS I bought myself a tiny (keyring sized) Freedom GPS 200 bluetooth device (it’s going to have to share with the Q1U though!).

Last but not least is the answer to the keyboard woes of the Q1U. A Freedom Universal folding bluetooth keyboard. This device claims compatibility with both Windows/Vista devices and smartphones. Well, I had no problem what-so-ever pairing it with the Q1U and so I’m really happy with that.

The bad news is that at this point in time I am totally unable to get it working with any of the phones in the list above. First of all the driver install from the PC doesn’t work in Vista (you have to manually copy the files across and install it), the over-the-air installer doesn’t recognize any of the devices and for good measure even when I get the driver installed it wants to generate a unique unlock code for each device before it’ll let me pair… the website fell over when I tried to go it for the first device, and as you can see… I get through devices at a fair rate so locking me to one isn’t going to make me a fan.

I’ve logged a couple of support requests… when they get back to me I’ll have another look at the keyboard and report back.

Oh, and the neat little bag with “Windows Mobile” written on it… invaluable for lugging around chargers, USB cables, spare batteries, microSD cards and USB adapters and whatever else!

One of my bad habits is to “file” stuff in my inbox. A lot of it is project related that I read and forget to file (often on a mobile device the triage is a little hard remember when you’re quickly flitting through email), a lot is stuff I read and think I should delete… but forget to.

Well, enter Auto-Mate from Pergenex Software. It’s one of a suite of Outlook add-ins that they have to make life easier and extend the product you probably use every day to make you more productive.

Within a few minutes of installing it I had some rules set up to find and file away a bunch of project related emails that frankly I’d been too lazy to sort out… and my mailbox is starting to feel more responsive and well behaved with each new rule.

It’s not just about filing old messages though. With careful use you can create a rule to handle just about any situation and have it react as mails come in (for instance letting you create customized Out Of Office messages for different projects or clients).

It has a standard and pro version and both come with a free 30 day trial so you can take the rules for a test drive before committing. I think I’m sold ;)

Thanks to a tweet from FrankArr I’ve been playing with Digsby, a fairly new combined IM, Email and Social Networking client.

So what does that all mean?

Essentially it provides a replacement to the Windows Live Messenger and GTalk clients I usually have running on my dekstop. In that role it’s much like Pidgin or AdiumX for Mac users and does the job at least as well as they do. It still needs a bit more polish to get it on par with more developed clients for things like smileys but it does what it says on the tin (and I get tabbed chat which I love!)

The it adds on a notified for Social Networking tools like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook to let you see messages, alerts, status changes and what have you. It saves me many a wasted moment in the browser checking these things. You can even respond to some things directly, or get taken straight to the relevant item to manipulate it however you want.

Finally it acts as a mail poller for Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, POP3 and IMAP accounts – letting you read, manage and reply to email.

If it continue to evolve and deliver a stable, reliable, light footprint (resources and screen real estate) client I think it’s going to be a keeper.

It’s not going to replace Outlook (or Communicator for Exchange based IM and phone control) any time soon, and it doesn’t support Skype or MagicJack to manage all my communications … but who knows what the next build will bring :)

I've noticed that when I restart Vista I sometimes get a dialogue "The data file .... was not closed properly." when I fired up Outlook again.

It was driving me slowly mad (or actually driving me to use those extra 2 minutes to grab one more coffee!) but... I've found a solution... and it's really simple.

All you have to do is make sure Outlook has an open window - ie it's not minimized - when you hit shutdown or restart.

It appears that if Outlook isn't an active window then Vista is a little aggressive in shutting down and if Outlook doesn't respond quick enough then it just gets closed.

Now obviously this doesn't solve the problem of a crash, power cut or other hard stop, but when you're in control it's easy enough to work around.

I'm going to hunt to see if I can find a way to make Vista a little less understanding about Outlooks obsessive need to tidy up ;)

What with my UMPC and my new phone and my laptop I have a lot of places to consume blog posts. The problem is that it's very easy to get very out of sync and confused very quickly - especially throwing in reading on the web on a bunch of machines in various places.

Admittedly with a lot of the blogsphere you're not sure if it's deja vu because you're reading the same post twice or because a meme has suddenly popped and everyone is writing about the same thing!

I've tried a bunch of different solutions over the last year to try and manage it. Google Reader, Bloglines, RSS Bandit, new the Origami Experience (which has such a good RSS reader on the UMPC platform I hate to be without it! It's coming soon Steve), Outlook, IE, Viigo ... and while they're all good in their own ways it comes down to keeping in sync, being able to flag things for follow-up and just making good use of my time and attention.

The other day I saw on Brads blog that NewsGator was making it's clients free. That was the most ridiculously good bit of news for managing my problem! Greg Reinacker explains why they made the change, but it quickly makes it the best solution for Windows, Mac, Mobile and Web users.

I now have NewGator Go! on my phone, Newsgator Desktop on my UMPC to keep that in sync, Newsgator Inbox running in Outlook for when I'm at the laptop and when I'm sitting at someone elses computer... NewsGator Online of course!

I can now read, clip and stay synchronized over pretty much any device I use. The only exception is on my UMPC where I can't clip posts to follow up later - must ask someone about that...

Looking to the future, like Steve I'm keen to see Fav.or.it ... I just hope it supports my mobile, distributed, attention disorder, reading and posting syle!

One of the really cool things Microsoft has formally unveiled at CES this year is SideShow. This is a sub-PDA functionality set used to produce smart, low power, functional devices. For instance imagine being able to check your calendar without turning on your PC, or view the weather forecast or stock tips.

SideShow devices can be really small and stand-alone, or built into other bits of hardware - keyboards, speakers or remote controls - to extend their functionality in new and useful (not just cool) ways.

What makes them so neat is that with minimal changes they run Gadgets built for Vista, so apparently no complicated development path. Obviously because they don't have the same levels of connectivity as a PC (they rely on the host usually to talk to the web, though there is at least one device with a built-in WiFi stack and VoIP client) but the framework helps take care of that.

The architecture is new, but based on the .net microframework which has been around and evolving as part of the Microsoft SmartWatch platform.

Both Asus and LG have revealed neat new laptops with SideShow devices built into the lid so you can check information and play back music without powering up the PC. With both of these you can sync 1GB of music to the device or, if the laptop is powered up, access the full Windows Media experience as a remote control.

MSI have unveiled a Companion Device - a small credit-card sized device which syncs wirelessly to your PC and you can access your information anywhere... anyone remember Rex it's all grown up now ;)

They also demonstrated a number of Universal / Windows Media Center remote controls - allowing you to manage the TV guide without interrupting what folks are watching, or cue up music without turning on the TV - I really want one of those devices!

There was also a demonstration of a Logitech G15 keyboard and Z10 speakers hacked with SideShow drivers... official support for Q2 2007. By next Christmas I'll have so many ways to control my music I won't know which way to turn!

The one thing that doesn't seem to be available, but IMO would be really cool is have a SideShow app that can be downloaded to legacy PocketPC devices like my K-Jam... Maybe someone will be able to knock something up soon...

Check out the video demo at on10, the official blog for the team developing the product and a great (unofficial) site with heaps of information. Once you get your hands on a device you'll want to check out the Gadget Gallery for cool things top do with it.

Update: The folks at engadget spotted this really cool SideShow device embedded in a messenger bag!

I've been using Office 2007 through a couple of beta versions, and now for real and despite some early hiccups I'm hooked. At home on Storms machine I still have to revert to Office 2003 and I find it really disorientating.

Outlook is probably the apps that's had the most obvious changes in ramping up the smarts that I use every day but the ribbon and smart mini-toolbars in Word really are intuitive and make it much easier to find functionality that was often hidden behind layers of menus. The great thing is the old keystrokes you knew and loved still work so keyboard power users won't be thrown off their stroke.

While it's not the productivity app of my dreams I did enjoy flipping through The Enchanted Office (or "Once Upon A User Interface") today.

I don't think I'm going to dream about productivity gains tonight, but I might just roll Office 12 out to Storms machine...

Many years ago I worked somewhere that used cc:Mail as a corporate standard. I didn't especially enjoy the experience. Even after using Volvos Memo on a mainframe (yes, Volvo once developed an email system)!

Then they got the Lotus Notes bug. Productivity went down for about a month after the roll-out as people tried to fight with the (oh so powerful) UI to actually get anything (eg reading email) done. Luckily there was a connector available so I could use MS Mail to do the basics.

Then a small rebellion led by a few of us (and thankfully supported by our local IT folks and management) saw us migrate to Exchange (which shortly afterwards was rolled out company wide thanks to our acquisition by a nimbler, more profitable and dare I say better communicating company).

Not long after that I joined a company using GroupWise. Luckily for my sanity an Outlook connector existed for that and until our Exchange revolution there I was able to stay sane.

Fast forward another 6 or 7 years during which time I've been outside the normal corporate environment (using a third party hosted Exchange service for email though) and I'm getting to grips with what Exchange, Sharepoint and the Office Communication Server now offer (interestingly enough Ray Ozzie, the man behind Notes is now the Chief Architect here at Microsoft - and I think MS has learnt a lot from Lotus and IBM on how not to build groupware and how to get it right from Ozzies subsequent efforts with Groove) and I'm more impressed each day with how easy it makes life.

At Microsoft they don't just sell the platform and clients, the business is run on the latest versions of the products (and there are even some 'spin off' solutions such as OfficeLive that go to prove how capable and scalable these tools are) and the teams developing the products use them daily.

So, how is Notes fairing in the meantime? Version 6 (released in 2002) featured over a thousand new and improved features and opened up some brave new worlds for IBM (XML support, Linux etc). But you have to wonder if the enthusiasm for the product was waning within IBM as version 7 (released in 2005) revealed only a hundred new features. Given that level of support I wonder if 2007 will see version 8 with tens of new or improved features! Can't see me recommending it any time soon!

In the meantime Exchange, Sharepoint and the Office System (including the Groove collaboration tools) in their 2007 variants are evolving and innovating was as much (if not more) vigor as they were in 2000 (and with clients like Evolution, Entourage and Pocket Outlook the support if available anywhere you need it).

It's good to stay in touch, but it's hard to explain why some of the new tools out there are so good unless you've experienced them.

I'm lucky enough to now be working somewhere that gets the idea of unified comms (although I'm still trying to work out how to get everything integrated into one place - I think we need to buy a mobile operator to hook into our in-house IT to finally close that loop!) but I saw this and it expresses the benefits in a much better way than I can...

Video: The Devil wears Prada .. and does Unified Comms!

And don't forget to check out the (similar themed) introduction to the really cool video conferencing tool - Round Table

I really must see this movie before the spoofs totally ruin it for me forever!