Slashdot put me on to this. Apparently -based on who they've been hiring lately- this looks like a possibility. On it's own that wouldn't be enough but put it together with this and you get somewhere:
"The idea is that companies or consumers could buy a machine that costs only about $200, or less, but that has very little hard drive space and almost no software. Instead, users would access a network through a browser and access all their programs and data there.
The concept floundered, but programmers note that Google could easily pick up the ball. Already, its Gmail free e-mail system gives users 100 megabytes of storage space on a remote network — providing consumers a virtual hard drive."
It makes sense to me: once you have a broadband connection and a Google account what more do you need for data storage? I have a special Gmail account set up to handle my writing and research so that wherever I am I can access my materials and add or edit without relying on remembering to bring my USB memory thingy [even if the machines have a usuable slot which given security issues many don't]. Someone did try this a few years back but the lack of speed on the connections and the dial-up thing kept it from big uptake [remember those "net PC'S"?] Certainly I'm thinking in terms of linuxing a spare old laptop and using it as a kind of net PC. The future beckons and it is a world where you have access to your data almost anywhere because people like Google store it for you. Microsoft should be scared because that's a world where the operating system ain't so important and free will do nicely. Time to change business model?
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