Engadget reports (here) that Phoenix Technologies is relaunching their instant-on OS as a downloadable subscription ($60 for 1 year, $150 for 3, in its most flexible form). I haven’t played with it at all but I’m not sure I’d buy it.
HyperSpace is a mini-OS that supposedly boots almost instantly and lets you surf the web and connect to WiFi hotspots (for use by HyperSpace). So, it’s a mini-OS that essentially give you only the web. Since the web is one of the main things I use my computer for it should be a slam-dunk but an awful lot depends on the browser and how flexible it is — what engine it’s based on, what plug-ins it has and so on. Plus, it could provide a nice layer of insulation between my “real” computer (files, apps, etc) andthe web-at-large. The expensive version lets you toggle between HyperSpace and your base operating system (XP, Vista, Linux, I suppose), and that may be the best way to run it, although I can’t see myself always using HyperSpace to surf.
So, again, I dunno. Is Woody a visionary?