HyperSpace instant-on OS on ASUS lappies: it'll cost ya
By Darren Murph 
posted January 21st 2009 12:42AM
posted January 21st 2009 12:42AM
When Phoenix Technologies relaunched its HyperSpace instant-on OS, we didn't balk too much at the pricing plans for users looking to add it onto their existing laptop. On the same token, we fully expected it to be included gratis (or close to it) when it arrived pre-installed on Acer and ASUS machines. According to Phoenix Technologies' PR firm, the system will ship on a variety of ASUS machines, with the Hybrid edition being loaded on higher performance devices and the Dual product finding its way onto netbooks and the like. Sadly, ASUS won't be subsidizing the cost of the subscription-based system in part nor in full, meaning that users will be forced to pay the full $39.95 (Hybrid) / $59.95 (Dual) annually if they want to take advantage. Something tells us someone didn't think this plan through.
Can someone please tell me why instant-on OS's so popular? A computer goes out of standby in seconds max, into the full OS. Why shut down the notebook in the first place?
You shut own the notebook in the first place because sleep (on Vista at least) takes a crap load of power while doing nothing. Hibernate takes 30 years to boot up. Regular startup takes 55,691 years. An instant-on OS lets someone check their email or see what's new on YouPorn while the "full-featured" OS loads and later allows use of Word, Photoshop, etc.
What I can't see is any fool paying an annual subscription cost to have this "feature". What the hell, son?
@waiownsyou
Don't all new notebooks come out of sleep relatively quickly. I know my two year old Macbook did it in a second or so. That's why I don't understand this at all. Why buy a good computer, spend more money for a second operating system, that does so much less?
Daddy?
I remember reading something about how a significant amount of a business' productivity is lost due to accumulated boot-up times. It could be a solution to that, but my memory is sort of fuzzy at all times.
God, it's too late to post with proper grammar.
It should read:
I remember reading something about how businesses lose significant amounts of productivity due to the boot-up times accumulating.
Annual subscription?.. Apple ripoff!!!
Why would I ever pay for an OS?
@finnith
well maybe it's late, but your first post read absolutely fine to me.
One question I have about the instant-on OS, does the regular OS keep loading while you do your stuff? otherwise it seems like you're going to have to waste time regardless.
@Boards of Canada
what's any of this have to do with Apple? or are you just trollin your boat?
@FuzzyKittens - when your Macbook is sleeping, it is still using a small amount of power. This will slowly drain the battery over time. I lug my laptop around in my bag all the time because it is so small I hardly notice. It is useful once every couple of days when I need to find something out online. It'd have a flat battery by then if I kept it in Sleep mode, and loading from Hibernate takes nearly as long as a normal boot, so an instant-on OS would be quite cool.
Maybe to save the battery even more?
Annual subscription? Why? Is there going to be regular and monumental updates? Is the loading going to get more 'instant' given some improvements down the road? Why annually?!?
Exactly! Good luck sellin, Asus and Acer!!
A better question is what is that laptop in the picture. It looks hawt.
Macbook Air.
voodoo envy 133.
Indeed it looks all kinds of hot. Not to incite flamewars, but I prefer its looks over the Air.
Still, I think they're both insanely overpriced for the functionality they offer, as thinness doesn't improve portability much at all.
Who in their right mind would subscribe to an OS, instant on or otherwise....wait, what if Snow Leopard is subscription based? Was that the sound thousands of Apple Users' wallets opening at once?
microsoft thought you would with OneCare and Equipt.
man you suck at trolling. go find a pair of scissors and run around with them.
funny, that little picture shows the hyperspace OS on a voodoo envy 133, which has it's own voodoo IOS.
Subscription?!? That is a horrible idea for an Instant On OS
If this idea comes into reality...
SPLASHTOP >>>> HYPERSPACE
HYPERSPACE for $59.99??!! A mere pittance to pay in order to make the Kessel run in less than 10 parsecs
word on the street is she's outrun imperial freighters, the big corellians.
Parsec = unit of distance, not time. Speed = Distance/Time
Han Solo + you = FAIL.
Who's to say that a unit of distance isn't an appropriate measure for the Kessel Run?
Do you actually know what the Kessel Run is? Does Han Solo ever explain it?
No
Maybe the Kessel Run is sort of like an equivalent of a 0-60mph figure with automobiles, a figure that is measured in distance. Maybe the Kessel Run is a competition to see who's spaceship can get to a certain space-speed in the least amount of distance? And maybe less than 12 (not 10) parsecs is a fucking awesome ranking?
Did you ever think about any of this when you were correcting someone about their Star Wars mistake that is based in a fantasy world that in which you have absolutely no idea what the Kessel Run is and how it should be measured?
There's also this http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run but it only seems like a bunch of bullshit written by nerds who try to overanalyze Star Wars quotes. (oh shit, I guess that's what we're doing)
@thedvs01
/Light applause
no no no....
It only took 10 parsecs before Han Solo mercy ruled everyone
How about making more power efficient S3 suspend implementations? I always suspend. Always.
WTF? Subscription based convenience OS? What do the suit bearers in Phoenix technologies smoke?
Wasn't this the "instant-on" OS that loaded in only 25 seconds?
why would i want this, my aspire one boots FULLY into its linpus os in about 15secs anyway. so this would seem a slightly silly idea especially when linpus is linux based and therefore free
My vista notebook boots in 45 seconds, its noticeably faster with Windows 7. I dont see how $50 bucks a year is worth me saving 15 seconds of boot time.
Meh, I could make a partition with Damn Small Linux, and tweak it to get the best boot time I can. At least it would be free.
LoLoLoLoLoLoLoL . . . OMG . . . They have GOT to be kidding, right?!? . . . LoLoLoLoLoLoL . . . No seriously, how much is it going to cost? . . . No company . . . LoLoLoL . . . in their right mind would think that people would pay an annual subscription. . . LoL . . . for an OS! . . . especially for something so trivial as booting up a couple seconds quicker. There's no way it would ever be a consideration for purchase by a long shot. I wouldn't even pay a ONE time charge of $40 - $60, much less an ANNUAL fee. LoL . . . (an annual fee, they're kidding right? Really, how much are they charging?) LoL
Well, let's take Windows as an example. Something like $200 every three years or so? That's over $60 a year.
It's not a crazy price for a commercial OS, and the subscription does offer you a much better deal than Windows if you only use it for one year.
The main problem is that this is a much less useful OS than Windows, as it's not intended to be full-featured, and you need a real OS for other work. That, and free UNIX OSes, pretty much makes this particular type of OS a hard sell at any price.
You can break anything down and say that there is an annual fee, or monthly fee, or weekly, or whatever. The fact of the matter is that the longer you can make something last, the cheaper per installment it would be. So, if I can make my XP OS stretch out 10 years in my kids room to be a junked out media player, then a one time fee is what I think most people are wanting to pay. I would not pay an annual fee for the computers in my kids rooms or even the one I'm on now. Just doesn't make sense.
Second, I have no idea why my previous comment was Lowest Ranked. I will say that the Engadget community can be very fickle with their rating system and it depends on the wind direction and the time of the month. One just never knows how they're going to react. So, if I had to guess as to why I was Lowest Ranked, would it be because I was so over the top with my comment? I honestly don't know.
Saw this and thought it was interesting till I got to the point about a subscription model..... Hey Phoenix Technologies yeh NO not going to happen.
I am looking into my Crystal ball its 2010, summer. The birds are singing, children playing.. well I guess they are. I can't tell because I'm inside on the computer ;). Anyway, I'm looking back through all the posts of 2009 and seeing where everything is a year later. Hmmm. Seems like we might get a MID released sometime fall 2010 only a year or so behind. Not bad.. Whats This??? Hyperspace..Ohh that REALLY bad Idea from Phoenix.. I had forgotten all about it. It came on my asus laptop.. but I just repartitioned my hd and reinstalled windows 7 to reclaim the wasted space it was taking up on my HD. I can't believe there was a company who thought we would pay a ridiculous subscription fee for such a minor and unneeded product. Wow I remember Phoenix bios...too bad they went belly up after this fiasco. That and the fact that we don't use bios anymore.. everything uses EFI.. and it boots really fast.. lets see what else is out there... hmmm a mouse that looks like a spaceship...I wonder why that never took off ;)
So we've have better Linux-based instant-on OSes for free in how many weeks? Actually, I've never looked into this. Maybe there are a couple already.
You are quite wrong.
I have thought it through.
Next...
-savagemike
Annual subscription? Forget about it. A free alternative will emerge.
I don't know what the buzz is about "instant on" OS stuff. I open my Macbook Pro, and it's on, immediately, right where I left it. I can go for months without restarting and everything runs beautifully. Basically I have an "instant on" OS already, and it's not some stripped down poopoo OS either. It's the real-deal.
It seems like this would only make me hot and bothered while I was still an XP-era PC user, and my Laptop would take like 30 seconds to "Wake Up" every time I opened the clamshell. Does Vista behave the same way?
I've got this secret instant-on OS... had it for years
It's called "Palm" ;)