In age of impatience, cutting computer start time

[Noreen]

It is the black hole of the digital age — the three minutes it can take for your computer to boot up, when there is nothing to do but wait, and wait, and wait some more before you can log on and begin multitasking at hyper-speed.

Some people stare at their screen and fidget. Others pace or grab a cup of coffee. "Half the time, I go brush my teeth," said Monica Loos, 40, who is starting a business selling stationery online from her home in San Francisco.

Now the computer industry says it wants to give back some of those precious seconds. In coming months, the world's major PC makers plan to introduce a new generation of quick-start computers, spotting a marketing opportunity in society's short attention span........................

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/26/technology/26boot.php

[Simon]

"It's ridiculous to ask people to wait a couple of minutes," said Sergei Krupenin, executive director of marketing of DeviceVM, a company that makes a quick-boot program for PC makers. "People want instant-on."

Why?  What's the big deal in waiting a few minutes?  You have to wait for a kettle to boil, a toaster to toast, an egg to fry.  Nothing is instant, and I can't see why people get so uptight about it. 

[Rik]

I think this fixation with instant is bad for us. A couple of minutes is not significant, and society should stop creating pressure to use every last second.

[Glenn]

I used to have to wait 30 minutes or more when loading a game from tape on my Spectrum 128, so what is 3 minutes.

[Simon]

I think this fixation with instant is bad for us. A couple of minutes is not significant, and society should stop creating pressure to use every last second.

Unless, of course, you only have a minute to live. 

[Rik]

I used to have to wait 30 minutes or more when loading a game from tape on my Spectrum 128, so what is 3 minutes.

10%. Do I pass?

[Rik]

Unless, of course, you only have a minute to live. 

In which case, you were unlikely to get to the web page you wanted.

[Simon]

 

[Noreen]

I've never timed my Vista laptop but I'm sure that it's faster than three minutes.

[Rik]

Out with the stop watch then, Noreen.

[Sebby]

I agree with Rik that wanting everything to be instant isn't necessarily a good thing. But I think we're all guilty of wanting things to be quicker. I'm actually pretty happy with the time my computer takes to start up, but if instant-on was the norm, I wouldn't complain about it.

[Rik]

Get hold of a BBC Micro, Seb. Sorted.

[Sebby]

That was the first computer I ever used. It was great.

[Rik]

It was - so far seeing too, all that expansion possibility.

[JB]

I used to have to wait 30 minutes or more when loading a game from tape on my Spectrum 128, so what is 3 minutes.

And find that the load failed in the last 5 seconds.

[john]

My BBC micro was great too, flick a switch on the back and it booted almost instantly. I think with a move to solid state drives we might get back to this.

I leave my laptop in hibernate mode so it doesn't take as long to boot up anyway.

[Glenn]

Best to reboot it every now and then John, I have found a simple reboot fixes now end of problems that Three's mast field engineers have. It goes something like this

ME 'Do you switch off the laptop'
Eng 'No'
Me 'When was the last time you did'
Eng 'When I spoke to you last time'
Me 'OK reboot it now'
waits 5 mins
Eng 'It's all ok now thanks'
Me 'Reboot it each wee........' phone goes dead

[john]

 

I do do a full reboot every couple of weeks or so.

[Rik]

I must admit I find the same, it seems to forget itself every so often.

[cavillas]

I can do quite a lot in a few minutes, ask my wife.

[Rik]

Put food in front of me and I can eat a lot in a few minutes!

[Simon]

Put food in front of me and I can eat a lot in a few minutes!

 

[Rik]

Oh yes I can. (Anyone mention the panto season is coming?  )

[cavillas]

My "new" Vista Celeon machine boots from cold to availability in 45 secs.  I have a number of start up apps plus the sidebar as well.  I still like it and also Office 2007, quirky but very useable.

[cavillas]

Oh! No you can't