|
|
|
An Interview with Zonbu CEO Gregoire Gentil |
|
Written by Stew
|
|
Monday, 22 October 2007 |
|
Page 1 of 2
 I recently hooked up with Gregoire Gentil, the CEO and co-founder of Zonbu, to ask him a few questions about environmentally friendly computing, the rise of Open-source consumer software, cloud computing and all things Zonbu. For those of you outside the loop, the Zonbu is an ultra compact PC which uses a radically new computing model. Based on a fanless VIA Eden CPU, the Zonbu is consumer orientated PC that is bundled with a paid subscription for storage and support. Using no Microsoft software, the Zonbu offers consumers something excitingly different. Read on for the interview with it's creator, Gregoire Gentil.
S: The name Zonbu is very unique and original, how did you come up with the name and does it mean anything specific?
GG: We brainstormed a lot. You know, when you want to find a
two-syllable, five-letter-or-so, internationally-working,
dot-com-available and non-porn-website-on-the-associated-dot-net name,
you need to brainstorm very hard. It's what we did and we are very
satisfied with the result.
S: How long did it take your development team to get form the initial
concept of the Zonbu to actually having the first prototype in your hands?
GG: It took us two years to reach the beta stage of Zonbu. It's a very
long process if you really want to come with a solution that matches the
best standards in terms of user-friendliness and ease of use.
S: With the Zonbu PC obviously focused very much on the 2nd PC market,
how much growth do you anticipate in this market in the next year or two?
GG: Big. 60% of households have already more than two computers at
home. Each member of the family wants a computer and you begin to see
more and more computers in the living-room, in the den or in the kitchen
with usage similar to a kiosk or focused on multimedia. The second PC
market is becoming bigger and bigger and customers don't want to have to
face the pain of managing multiple PCs at home.
S: Considering that Windows Vista has come in for some heavy criticism in recent months and the obvious security and stability concerns that haunted XP, do you think there will be an eventual exodus towards Open-source-based operating systems sometime in the future?
GG: Definitely. The same way as Firefox has been able to grab 20% of
market share from IE, I'm totally convinced that Open-source will grab a
chunk of the OS market share in the coming five years. The company
which comes up with a user-friendly solution that can market it
smartly will have the highest chances of success.
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
|
Supported by:
|
