Dell’s bold plan to reinvent itself: A USB-sized PC that gives access to Windows, Mac OS, Chrome OS

By Brad Reed | BGR News – 17 hrs ago

Be honest: When was the last time you felt excited about Dell (DELL)? If the answer is “never,” then you might understand why the company is now in...go private — basically, it needs a space to boldly reinvent itself that’s far away from the relentless quarterly demands of investors. And what might that bold reinvention entail? According to Christopher Mims at Quartz, it could be a computer the size of a USB stick that’s capable of giving users access to every major operating system.

As Mims writes, Dell is working on a projected currently called “Ophelia” that is “a complete, self-contained PC” that also happens to be as big as a USB thumb drive. But the killer feature of Ophelia is that it uses “virtual instances of… operating systems running in the cloud” to give users access to “Windows, Mac OS, Google’s Chrome OS, Dell’s custom cloud solutions, Citrix cloud software, and even Google’s Chrome OS.” Let’s take a step back and think about what this really means. If you plug Ophelia into a flat-panel television, it will connect to the nearest Wi-Fi network and give you access to any type of operating system or app that is running virtually somewhere in the cloud.

In this way, Dell wouldn’t be competing with Microsoft (MSFT) or Apple (AAPL), but with Google (GOOG) and its Chromebook computers that similarly deliver applications and data through the cloud rather than through hard drive storage. The difference is, while Google’s computers are thinly-veiled attempts to move users away from Windows-based applications and toward Google Apps, Dell’s Ophelia would give users a wide choice of cloud-based apps from several different providers. Or as Mims puts it, Ophelia is more of a “PC-as-parasite, a device that offloads most tasks to servers in the cloud so that the user is left with barely a token, a nearly ephemeral, solid-state key connecting to their could-based ‘computer,’ wherever they are.”

And the most intriguing part about Ophelia? Tarkan Maner, Dell’s vice president of cloud operations, tells Quartz that he wants to price it at just $50. Needless to say, this is certainly a project to keep an eye on for the future, even though it still looks like it could be a long way from becoming a reality.

from YAHOO

So...am I the only one who geeked out on this story?

PurpleJedi said:

So...am I the only one who geeked out on this story?

Nah the haven't read it yet. Dell who.... they've been in forest for a while now, lets see if this OS on a flash-drive can make them relevant again. I have misgivings about "cloud" technology; I have my music in the cloud but nothing else. I though Linux was working on something similar once but I haven't heard or read anything lately. Here's some another article talking about Dell's USB PC.

http://www.zdnet.com/dell...000009542/

TD3 said:

PurpleJedi said:

So...am I the only one who geeked out on this story?

Nah the haven't read it yet. Dell who.... they've been in forest for a while now, lets see if this OS on a flash-drive can make them relevant again. I have misgivings about "cloud" technology; I have my music in the cloud but nothing else. I though Linux was working on something similar once but I haven't heard or read anything lately. Here's some another article talking about Dell's USB PC.

http://www.zdnet.com/dell...000009542/

I'm thinking if they manage to make this a reality...doing what they claim it will do AND at only $50???

DELL will become relevant again.

At least for a month or two before a Chinese version for $19.99 comes out.

PurpleJedi said:

TD3 said:

Nah the haven't read it yet. Dell who.... they've been in forest for a while now, lets see if this OS on a flash-drive can make them relevant again. I have misgivings about "cloud" technology; I have my music in the cloud but nothing else. I though Linux was working on something similar once but I haven't heard or read anything lately. Here's some another article talking about Dell's USB PC.

http://www.zdnet.com/dell...000009542/

I'm thinking if they manage to make this a reality...doing what they claim it will do AND at only $50???

DELL will become relevant again.

At least for a month or two before a Chinese version for $19.99 comes out.

AS SEEN ON TV... for $19.99 -

One of the issues I have with the cloud are the laws and technology that protect your information stored in the cloud. We saw after 9/11 the phone companies readily (without court orders) allowed the FBI and other agencies tap American phones. Megaloud was shut down without due process. Of course the cloud isnt't free so what are the pro's and con's of being able to store your info on a traditional HDD vs on a serve controlled by someone else?

that's going to be a internet security nightmare. who wants to store all of their personal info on the cloud?

I do think that PCS will become small plug-ins (though not USB-2 / possible USB-3 or Thunderbolt, or something faster in the future).

You'll have a screen, which has the peripheral ports. And your PC will be these plugins.

This allows you to be much more mobile.

I also believe in Job's vision that the PC will become just one in a multitude of ways that we compute. This has already started happening with tablets. Apple tore the door off its hinges in turning tablets from a risky niche product into a standard of computing among many folks who are using it strictly for 'consumption' of content purposes. Either way, the shift is happening fast. PC manufacturers will rise to the challenge of diversifying.

Michio Kaku invisions a future where computer chips will be ridiculously cheap--This I gotta see.

PurpleJedi said:

Dell’s bold plan to reinvent itself: A USB-sized PC that gives access to Windows, Mac OS, Chrome OS

By Brad Reed | BGR News – 17 hrs ago

Be honest: When was the last time you felt excited about Dell (DELL)? If the answer is “never,” then you might understand why the company is now in...go private — basically, it needs a space to boldly reinvent itself that’s far away from the relentless quarterly demands of investors. And what might that bold reinvention entail? According to Christopher Mims at Quartz, it could be a computer the size of a USB stick that’s capable of giving users access to every major operating system.

As Mims writes, Dell is working on a projected currently called “Ophelia” that is “a complete, self-contained PC” that also happens to be as big as a USB thumb drive. But the killer feature of Ophelia is that it uses “virtual instances of… operating systems running in the cloud” to give users access to “Windows, Mac OS, Google’s Chrome OS, Dell’s custom cloud solutions, Citrix cloud software, and even Google’s Chrome OS.” Let’s take a step back and think about what this really means. If you plug Ophelia into a flat-panel television, it will connect to the nearest Wi-Fi network and give you access to any type of operating system or app that is running virtually somewhere in the cloud.

Sounds good to me.

[Edited 3/11/13 12:10pm]

jaimestarr79 said:

that's going to be a internet security nightmare. who wants to store all of their personal info on the cloud?

Think of all the porn that would be out there on the cloud!