the future is so freaking cool

I have always been a huge tech nerd - well, a nerd in all respects, but I especially geek out about new tech - and I am especially, pants-wettingly excited about the fact that we have now reached a point in technological history where the game is completely changing. Laptops are finally doing what I've wanted them to do for years: Get smaller, simpler, and - most importantly - cheaper.

Manufacturers are realizing that most laptop users are not power users. The average laptop user is not editing audio or video, or playing CPU-intensive video games. The average user is checking their email, taking notes, watching YouTube videos, playing flash-based online games, blogging, checking facebook & twitter, and listening to music. What all of these things have in common is that none of them requires cutting-edge computing technology. None of them requires a super-fast CPU or large amounts of RAM. The only thing that is really needed is decent, integrated WiFi.

So, in this amazing age, you can buy a laptop for $180! To me, that is nuts. It is truly a beautiful thing. Now, if you had a simple, stripped-down netbook like that, you wouldn't in a million years want to run a full-featured operating system - nor could you if you tried - and if you're anything like me, you prefer your technology, and especially your software, to be streamlined, minimalistic, easy on the eyes, and optimized to use as little of your resources as possible. Enter, stage left, such intriguing ventures such as the creation of the JoliCloud OS.

Click that link. No, it's ok, I'll wait. Go check it out.

Ok, now that you've been dazzled by the sleek look of it, click on the "Our Idea" link, and then the "First Look" link. It is absolutely dazzling.

Proof, yet again, that you don't have to have a Mac to have a laptop that's simple, sleek, and easy to use. Nor do you have to buy a laptop that costs as much as Mac either. For the casual user, the world of computing just got a whole hell of a lot cheaper.