2009 - The Year Technology Broke (Experiment 2.0)

Day 1

I'm a huge Green Day fan, and have been since I was in 8th grade when they released their breakout album, "Dookie." Like all teens, my bedroom was wallpapered with magazine clippings of my idols, and many of these were of the three guys in my favorite band. In addition to having a successful career for more than fifteen years now, Green Day is also awarded the distinction of bringing punk rock music into the mainstream. While this will always be fiercely debated (Ramones and Sex Pistols fans fight relentlessly to claim this distinction), there's no denying that something happened the year Green Day hit it big.

I remember one of the wall clippings in my room was from the cover of Rolling Stone that featured the three rockers with a banner proclaiming 1994 as the "year punk broke." And that banner is the reason why I'm writing this.

The year punk broke

Historians are going to look back on 2009 through similar lens, only with technology instead of punk rock music. The Internet as we know it (loosely defined as Web 2.0) is no longer an exclusive stomping ground for teens and trendy college grads. Important people - CEOS, businessmen, educators, even the president - are realizing its full potential. The fact that WGRZ, the local news channel in Buffalo, NY (my hometown) uses Skype for live reports and has a Twitter account is indicative of the times.

Part of this technology revolution comes in the form of the netbook, which this blog has been devoted to thus far. But what about the applications and services that are being designed for just such a machine? Ignoring that is like buying a HD television so the static comes in more clear. To enjoy HD TV, you must also enjoy the programming, and to truly embrace the netbook revolution - and the year that technology broke - you need to also embrace the future in the cloud.

Despite some serious opposition and a bit of conspiracy theories, cloud computing is the future of netbooks and computers as a whole. Instead of fighting it, let's see its possibilities.

For the next 100 days, I will only use services that fall under the definition of a cloud application. The only obvious exception is a web browser - primarily Firefox. For this experiment we will loosely define cloud apps as any service that can be access from any computer where all files, settings, etc are stored remotely.

Here we go!

The End of the Eee PC Experiment

Day 100

100 Days have come and gone and I have successfully made it through my Eee PC experiment. The purpose of this blog was to see just how far netbooks could be pushed. I must say, it was far easier than I imagined to give up all other computers in favor of the Eee. To be fair, the journey wasn't without roadblocks and potholes. So for the final post (or is it...), the 100th day with the Eee PC, I give to you my final list of Pros and Cons.

Pros

1. Portability - Over the past three months, the Eee has traveled with me daily to and from work. It has also been carried into the auto repair shop, my Mom's house for Thanksgiving, and countless fast food and coffee spots. The ultra small size simply can't be beat. Also in those three months have I never had the battery completely drain. I typically get at least 3-4 hours with all the bells and whistles enabled (wifi, screen brightness, sound, etc.), and I have never had the battery completely drain. Unlike Dells which are notorious for giving about a dozen seconds notice before shutting off, the Eee's low battery warning seems to be more than several minutes - plenty of time to fetch the charger from under the bed in the other room.

2. Versatility - Since purchasing my Eee, I have put it up against challenges it simply was not intended to handle, yet it chugged along unphased. I have used it for audio recording, LCD projection presentations, media downloading, and even for keeping the kids from crying while my wife was sick in bed. Around Christmas I convinced a colleague at work to purchase two Eee PCs for her kids (11 and 7 years old), and they too are happy as can be about the laptop. Their priorities - Webkinz and word processing for school - are much different from mine, yet the Eee accommodates everyone.

Even my 19-month-old participated in the experiment.

3. Xandros - If you have been following my blog you'll know that Xandros is one aspect of the Eee PC that I have thoroughly explored. I've tried three different operating systems (UbuntuEee, MintOS, gOS) but returned to Xandros every time. It's not without it's flaws, but then again, neither am I (and I still consider myself something of a catch). For the Eee, Xandros is the way to go. Basic mode fits the true purpose of a netbook while the advanced desktop provides the control and power that people find so favorable with other Linux distributions. While there are parts of Xandros I never figured out (like setting up Compiz Fusion, for example) they are all secondary when you look at it from the perspective of an operating system that is capable of tackling nearly every task that can be thrown at it.

4. Community - I couldn't say goodbye to my experiment without first giving props to the community of Eee PC users, programmers, and enthusiastic that have helped me either through direct contact, blog comments, or forum threads. Specifically, Eeeuser is essential for anyone looking for help with the Eee PC. 90% of my accomplishments with my Eee came from the Eeeuser forum. So thank you, everyone!

Cons

1. Limited Resources - At one point I compared Xandros to a donkey - not because I was suggesting its programmers were sterile - as an analogy to explain why it is so difficult to find packages that are compatible with the Eee PC. This was a problem that plagued my experience. Not only were there programs that I simply couldn't get running, there were those like ktorrent and VLC that worked for a while, but then developed some irritating dependency issues when they needed to be reinstalled. Not only are resources limited for Xandros, they're actually decreasing as packages are updated (and therefore no longer work on the Eee).

2. Web Browser - I think the current browser wars is a good thing and I'm a willing soldier in the battles. Before switching to the Eee, I took a liking to Google Chrome for Windows and previous to that I was an avid supporter of Firefox. Even though I missed Chrome (which will most likely never be ported to Linux), I was okay with the idea of Firefox on the Eee. But the more I use it, the more I'm reminded of my experiences with Internet Exploder. Sites with embedded objects cause Firefox on the Eee to crash. Not all the time, but enough to make it irritating. I tried Opera and lesser-known Galeon too, but I just can't find anything that I feel works great with the Eee PC. For now, I'll stick with Firefox, but for no reason other than I can't find something better.

3. Speed - The Eee PC is what it is - an underclocked 900Mhz processor with 512MB of RAM. It doesn't have much issue with surfing the web or basic office documents, but its shortcomings become quite apparent when you try to do anything with media files (audio/video editing, file downloading, etc). Granted, the Eee isn't intended to do these things, so it's kind of like complaining that a bowling ball makes a mediocre doorstop.



So there you have it - these are the findings of my Eee PC experiment. Does that mean my Eee will now be turned off and tossed into the closet? Or used to prop up the bum leg of the sofa? Probably not. All nit-picking aside, I enjoy using the Eee PC and it suites my needs well. The only problem with ending my blog here is the simple fact that I would miss writing in it.

What direction will this blog take? I left a hint at the top of the page. And if you're still not sure what I'm getting at, don't worry - you have the next 100 days to figure it out.

Comments and Santa

Day 35

Cybermoron from the EeeUser forum informed me that comments weren't working (thanks, Steve!), so if you were interesting in sharing your thoughts, please do so - the problem has been fixed. And here I thought I was writing to myself! At least I know it was a problem with the comments on my blog and not with the content. I was afraid it was coming across as tasteless or obscene.

The approaching holiday season has given me an opportunity to do a little street team work for the Eee PC. For the past month it has gone pretty much everywhere with me; it has raised some eyebrows, and sparked some interesting conversations. I've made sure to contribute to these honestly and fairly, revealing all the cons as well as pros to owning this little guy. Most agree that the positive outweighs the negative; I know of at least two Asus Eee PCs that have been purchased because of me - One of my colleagues purchased one for each of her two children. There were others that had only heard whispers of these things known as netbooks, and I'd like to think I shed enough light on the subject to persuade them to seriously consider buying one to put under the Christmas tree.

If you've managed to avoid the naughty list this year, here's why you should ask Santa for an Asus Eee PC.

• Excellent battery life - With screen brightness at about 60% and wireless on, I get almost 4 hours of intermittent use before needing to plug in.
  
• Basic Mode & Advanced Mode - With Xandros Linux you get something not available on Windows - a choice for user interface.
• Portability - I carry mine around like it's a hardcover book. It I were a woman and had a purse, it would easily fit in there next to (or in place of!) the daily planner and Blackberry.
  
• Price and Compatibility - It's under $300 and it's 99% compatible with proprietary applications such as Microsoft Office.

No News is Good News?

Day 19

I'm quickly approaching the three week mark of my Eee experiment, and I'm finding it more and more difficult to post on my daily experiences. I was actually feeling a bit of pressure to put something out every night, but that's not what this blog is about. I had to remind myself why I started this in the first place.

Netbooks like the Eee are gaining popularity, and will no doubt be a hot item this holiday season. This blog was created to share my adventures with the Eee - a one-stop solution for Eee users looking to get the most out of their machines. With Google and dedicated message boards like EeeUser, it isn't hard to troubleshoot and customize the Eee, but I thought it would be nice for someone to be able to come here and work through what I did to make the Eee most ideal for me.

At first I had a laundry list of things that I wanted to accomplish. Many of these items have been crossed off now, so I'm starting to slow down on the blogs. That doesn't mean I'm not using my Eee. It's on all day, and I'm still enjoying it very much. So I guess no news is good news, right?