Instant On operating systems

[mcwkm]

A lot of companies have been coming out with instant on operating systems which allow you to do basic tasks such as browse the web without loading into a full operating system. These systems are cripple what you can do with your computer but most of them are set up so your computer has 2 operating systems installed, the instant on operating system for a quick web experience and a full fledged operating system such as windows.

I happen to love fast boot times and for at least 75% of my time spent on a computer I would not need anything more than what these operating systems are offering but I don't think I would enjoy using one of these systems for more than 5 minutes. I just love the feel of my full operating system rather than a crippled down version that just offers the most common tasks even though that is all I need. Granted I love the idea but I really don't see myself using it except if my computer is off and I am just looking something up in a hurry. I never actually do this so I don't see myself using this.

What are your feelings on these instant on systems? Do you mind long boot times or would you prefer shorter boots with lower functionality of your system?

[Jacky]

I have never even came across what you have claimed.

There are live operating systems which can be used right from a CD, such as BartPE. You load the files on your CD, boot from it and you can use it. It doesn't require installation, and this type of live operating systems are usually used for troubleshooting purposes, or at times when you need access to your hard disk without an accessible operating system.
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[mcwkm]

A lot of them are just coming out. I remember hearing lenovo and dell were both producing one for some of their systems.(this may not be true) Phoenix Technologies has developed one.(engadget review link below) I believe gos Cloud is considered an instant-on system too.(link to their page below)

http://www.engadget.com/2009/0.....os-review/
http://www.thinkgos.com/cloud.php

[ruyss]

I saw one of these somewhere a while ago, it claimed it booted in 15 seconds if I'm not mistaken. But what the things you could do with it were so basic, most people that do anything else than surf and chat wouldn't be able to use it properly.
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[ClickFanatic]

First of all. I don't care if my operating system takes 30 or 60 seconds to boot.
I just hit the power button on my computer, do something else for a little while and when I come back I can enjoy all the features for the rest of the day. The only thing those few seconds do is to satisfy your impatience (which you shouldn't even have to begin with).

Instant-ons (never heard of that name; 'minimal OS' would be a better word, I guess) are great for people who don't want to keep their computer usage simple. Just web-browsing, just e-mailing, just writing and as few things as possible to distract you.

So, they're not for me.
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[mcwkm]

I see it being useful for people who do not keep their computer on all the time. I like booting once per day so I don't mind the wait. My mother on the other hand would rather have the computer shut off unless it is being used so a under 5 second boot can be fairly useful when the majority of what she uses the computer for her while at home is just email and web browsing so I can see some people finding use for stuff like this.

[Jacky]

[ClickFanatic]

Well, if your PC's bootup takes 10 minutes, you should start worrying about background processes hogging resources.
But anything within a reasonable time is certainly wort the wait (especially if you use the computer a lot during the day without turning it off).

Then there also is standby in S3 mode for the frequent computer users. S3 only keeps power on the RAM, so it saves energy and the wake-up is quite fast as well because active memory is not written to drive.
You can find this option (S3) in the ACPI options of your BIOS if available.
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[ruyss]

[LP-SolidRaven]

There isn't really any point in doing that. If your OS is written in an efficient way it'll boot fast anyway. That will require you to get rid of all the slow parts though (like you won't get to used inefficient methods and certainly not anything like .NET, C#, java, ... ).
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[Xtreme $niper]

Honestly, I'd rather have vendors working to reduce boot times than introduce more of this stuff, but I guess it has its uses.

I can imagine that sometimes when you're out and about and you just simply want to watch a video or something, you can boot up the instant OS. I can see a major advantage to this being that there will be (hopefully) extended battery life due to the lack of extra and unnecessary processes taking up resources while you watch a movie in Windows.

So if it in fact does prolong battery life, then I can see its uses.

The main reason why I don't personally think its interesting is because my laptop is almost never powered off. It is always in a sleep state because it comes out of sleep in a blink of an eye, and as a Mac it never slows down even after weeks of uptime. I only restart after a major software upgrade now.
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[krt]

[LP-Trel]

[Xtreme $niper]

[Rashy]

My school uses them, or a similar concept. In the engineering building upon waking the computer from hibernation, you are presented with a pre-OS prompt with 4 options: Windows - Browser - Unix - Linux

Choosing Windows/Unix/Linux contacts a server, and you are brought to each OS's respective login screen as if you had booted up the computer (but in reality you are just running the OS over the network I think, I don't have any specifics).

The final option I think is a bit more interesting. When you choose "Browser" you are instantly brought to a firefox browser, sans toolbars, menubars, and everything except the navigation, status bar and of course the main area. While in this "mode" you can't print and keyboard shortcuts don't work, but it is still an interesting concept to me how some terminals can instantly become a browser (in comparison choosing an OS takes 2 minutes from clicking the button to actually being able to use it).

There are other computers around campus that don't have the choices, but instead when you turn it on they just load straight into a browser really quickly. The only downside is that the school seems to insist on using giant clunky towers for these browsers. And even larger CRT monitors.
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