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An Interview with Zonbu CEO Gregoire Gentil |
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Written by Stew
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Monday, 22 October 2007 |
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Page 2 of 2
S: What was your reaction Walt Mossberg's conclusion that 'Linux's free system is now easier to use, but not for everyone ..." in a recent review of the Dell Inspiron ?
GG: First, we didn't get a good review from Walt Mossberg: we went and
saw him too early in our development process. Secondly, I think that
Walt is confusing the Ferrari and the Prius. As an Apple fan, he
recommends the Mac and he is right that OS X is an amazing achievement in
terms of ease of use, but you end up with a $2000 machine. Zonbu is
offering a $99 computer with a service. We are not playing in the same
category and unfortunately, the pricing policy of Apple doesn't seem likely to
change in the future.
S: In terms of energy efficiency and environmental impact the Zonbu is clearly leading the way, how crucial was the selection of the VIA Eden 1.2Ghz in accomplishing that feat?
GG: VIA is doing a terrific job in providing a low-power high-performance
chip set. If you combine it with an optimized system (which is possible
thanks to open-source), you end up with a terrific solution.
Intel is trying to sell more and more horse-power. But for what? To run
a 50GB Operating System that requires 2GB of RAM to animate two
transparent windows??? Customers are more and more lucid about the
situation and as alternative solutions like Zonbu appear, we think that
the PC industry has a chance to undergo a lot of changes beneficial for
the customers.
S: Why are you hosting user's data on Internet servers? What's your view
on the "data in the cloud" trend?
GG: We strongly believe that in the near future, users will store
their data on the Internet more and more often. It's what they are
already doing for their emails for instance (Gmail, Yahoo mail).
Customers want to access their data anywhere anytime. With our unique
architecture, we offer a local remote transparency. Our users don't need
to upload/download/transfer their data. Whatever device they use, the
Zonbu itself or a PC in a cybercafe, they have access to their latest
documents and they have nothing to manage.
S: The Zonbu has got off to great start and certainly captured the imagination of many, what plans do Mr Rossmann and yourself have for the future of the Zonbu?
GG: We want to and we will certainly continue to innovate. For a small
player like us, innovation is our reason of living. If we can influence
just a little bit the PC industry so as to offer greener and more
user-friendly solutions, our fight will not have been useless.
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Supported by:
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Visitor
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Visitor
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Visitor
Saturday, 12 January 2008
David
Monday, 05 May 2008
Please develop Zonbu with the option of hiding the taskbar and status bar. These just represent a severe waste of screen space when they are not being used.