netWorker - June 2008

full-size, the fastest typists nearly matched
their benchmark rates.
Ask fast typists about small keyboards, then,
and they’ll probably say that size does matter.
Perhaps the real winners among UMPC users
are slow typists, who simply stay slow.

UMPC’s also vary in keyboard material, which also influences speed and ergonomics. The XO’s water and dirt-proof keyboard is basically a rubber mat, which typists have roundly panned for lacking feel. The Eee PC’s individual hard plastic keys are more functional, but lack the comfortable travel found in a traditional keyboard, a quality highly acclaimed by HP Mini-Note users.

Overstuffed OSs

The UMPC experience is strongly influenced by the operating system being used. Except for the XO, UMPC vendors are using off-the-shelf OS products. (To be accurate, only the XO’s desktop GUI is custom and Asus’ customizations to the Eee PC are basically presentational.)

Linux enthusiasts express excitement over the UMPC as an ideal environment to highlight the OS’s flexibility and resource-friendliness. Combined with its low-to-no licensing costs, Linux is a natural choice for minimizing an ultra-mobile’s pricetag.

Enthusiasts can even replace the Linux versions distributed by UMPC vendors with alternatives, like Xubuntu, a lighter-weight version of the popular Ubuntu Linux. In fact, Xubuntu can be installed on the Eee PC, the XO, and the Mini-Note.

Rarely do the words “lightweight” and “Windows” appear in the same sentence, which has put UMPC vendors in a bind. At the OLPC, fractious debates have taken place over whether to pursue Windows for the XO. Other UMPCs offer Windows in addition to Linux.

Although Windows adds licensing cost to the unit price and consumes more of the limited flash storage, the reality is that most users are familiar with it and already own Windows-compatible applications. But UMPC users with Windows have expressed a variety of complaints: System dialogs sometimes extend beyond the edges of these smaller screens, for example. Vista performance on the Mini-Note is sluggish, scoring a lowly 1. 2 out of five on Vista’s own “experience” test.

Neither XP nor Vista were designed with UMPC’s in mind, of course. But between the two, XP offers the better experience. Microsoft had planned to discontinue Windows XP by June 2008, but the surge in the UMPC market led to fears that Linux would be able to dominate the niche. As a result, Microsoft has given XP a life extension, until at least 2010.

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More of Less?

It is difficult for the computer industry to defy its natural instinct to offer more. These new UMPCs are selling precisely because users are willing to give up performance for simplicity and mobility. But even now, “more creep” is beginning to set in.

After all, the Eee PC was introduced with a 7-inch screen. The new model offers nearly eight. Its competitor, the MSI Wind, promises 10. 2GB flash memory is becoming 4, 8, and even 16 in some models. The Mini-Note offers a configuration with a traditional laptop hard disk.

It remains to be seen whether simplicity and modesty can last in the UMPC segment. Will the natural momentum of this business cause expanding UMPCs to become the very t~hings they originally _rebelled _against?