RSSCan't we just settle on 'netbook' already?
By Tim Conneally | Published February 27, 2009, 5:10 PM
No matter how inaccurate or stigmatized the term, "netbook" has become the de facto name for those small PCs we see people toting around everywhere. Now could someone please tell that to the companies making them?
This week, mobile processor company VIA introduced a lifestyle site dedicated to the netbook phenomenon called How To Be Mobile, (or "H2BM" if you're filling out a personal ad.) Even here, however, the devices are interchangeably referred to as "Mini-notes, sub-notebooks, and ultraportable laptops," tiptoeing around "netbook."
There's a logical and somewhat depressing reason for this, which I will preface with a story about football. Not "soccer" football, but American football -- the one with the weird pointy ball.
I am from Baltimore, Maryland, formerly the home of a National Football League team called the Baltimore Colts. At 2:00am on a snowy March morning in 1983, the team literally snuck off to a new, and better paying home in Indianapolis, Indiana, where it, and also Betanews' managing editor Scott Fulton III, reside to this day.
In the years shortly before the Baltimore Ravens were formed, there was a temporary replacement team playing in Memorial Stadium. While only a Canadian Football League team, the Baltimore CFL team was actually quite popular for its brief life, and became the only American team in the league to ever win the Grey Cup, the league's equivalent to the Super Bowl.
"Tim, for the love of God!" I can already hear you crying, "What on Earth does this have to do with netbooks not being called netbooks!?"
Well, to capitalize on the nostalgia local fans had for their dearly departed NFL team, the CFL team was named "The Baltimore Colts." However, the National Football League promptly sued the CFL franchise for using the name, and the team went without a name. I have a ticket from one of the games in 1995 that just says "Baltimore CFL Football" where the team name should have gone.
"Netbook" is just like "The Colts" in that it's a trademarked name that could result in legal action if used without license. Belonging to a Canadian company called Psion Teklogix since 2000, the term "Netbook" has led to Psion threatening trademark infringement suits on a number of OEMS across the globe.
This is part of the reason Sony reps practically punched me in the face when I mentioned their "future in netbooks," at CES this year. With the company's Vaio P, Sony made sure that I, as well as everyone else in the world, did not refer to their highly netbookish device by that ill-chosen name.
Dell calls them "Mini Laptops," while Acer goes with Netbooks. HP calls them Mini Notebooks, while MSI just sticks with Netbook. It goes on and on.
In the meantime, I will continue to do as Baltimore CFL fans did. When the announcer would welcome fans to the game, he'd leave a conspicuous pause for the team name, and the crowd would shout "COLTS!" in unison. Maybe I won't be exactly shouting "Netbooks!" every time HP says "Mini Notes" but I'll fill in the blanks when appropriate.
I'm doing this because Intel has filed for a declaratory judgement against Psion Teklogix to loosen its tight grasp of the Netbook trademark. After all, the company hasn't made a netbook product for nearly six years and the term has taken up a life of its own, which Intel believes gives it a generic nature.
However, the same thing happened to Band-aids and Biros, did it not? And those are still legal trademarks after nearly 100 years on both counts. Let's just hope the companies making decent products won't have to pay exorbitant royalties simply because the public has chosen to classify those products in a certain way.
To extend this metaphor even further, it would be unfortunate if Netbooks went the way of the Baltimore CFL Colts. As netbooks continue to gain market traction, nearly every PC company has experimented in releasing one, under whatever name they choose. In only their second season, the Baltimore "..." became the "Baltimore Stallions," they took the highest honors in the Canadian Football League and promptly disbanded, only to be dismissed as an experiment in promoting the league in the States.
As soon as netbook is trademarked, nobody will use it. The same had happened for ping pong. It is not used in any official body or event, and I wonder if the trademark holder made any money from that name.
BTW, anyone still remember NC? Network computer, trademarked by Oracle.
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|netbook?
don't see them being a viable tool/machine.
perhaps, as they get smaller and the blackberries get larger, they will meet up. but i think the blackberries will prevail.
besides, the term netbook is not that catchy. some companies simply don't have any vision and creativity or they would use something like the PocketBook or pBook.
if or when apple creates their own, it will likely be called the iBook.
personally, i would simply call them over priced cBooks.
you probably don't have to guess what i am implying with the "c". however, its open to your imaginations.
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|Apple has already had an iBook. I own one. They're ancient.
Their "netbook" would be an iPad, probably, though they'll never actually make one. It's beneath them.
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|I say potato.........
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|Some minimal amount of research would have revealed that there is a trademark battle going on over the term netbook. That's why they're officially called other things.
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|um...rtfa?
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|"um...rtfa?"
That about covers it.
Some are utterly incapable of of reading past the headlines. I'm amazed that some are even able to find the 'Post Your Comment' button in the first place...
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|Hahah....RTFA is understatement. Hilarious.
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|The stupid thing is that while this is a separate segment right now, the technology will converge to where the "Netbook" is simply a slimmer more portable version of a regular laptop. Personally, I prefer the UMPC acronym to describe Ultra-Mobile Personal Computers. I know Netbooks are not the same thing entirely but that acronym can apply to anything that is designed to be portable FIRST and everything else after.
I have never liked the term "Netbook" as it infers that the computer is simply used for web surfing. While that may be the primary use, they now provide enough horsepower to do most of the of computing people need. Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and other office technologies are easy to execute on a these smaller computers.
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|UMPC is ok, but is yet another acronym.
When will the computing industry learn: we're known as geeks because we use acronyms all the ruddy time.
kthnxbai
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|Why would you think "Netbook" implied only web surfing? Net == network. A network can be used for more than web surfing.
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|I used to think that at some point there would be convergence between the "netbook" and the notebook but now I'm not so sure. Just looking at trends of product releases, it doesn't seem like these companies are going to really make them anything close to the typical notebook offerings.
Let me explain. Lets look at 2 products....a 10-12 inch notebook and a 10-12 inch "netbook" - on one side you're getting a fast, more than likely powerful processor (right now that'd be a core2duo or similar), 3-4GB of RAM, 250-320GB of hard disk and maybe discrete gfx or onboard and you're looking at 1400+, while the other product will give you an atom or via chip, 1-2GB RAM, 80-160 GB of hard disk and onboard, you're looking at 300-400 for this.
Convergence in my mind, would have been a point at which the lesser powered machine would 'catch up'. But I don't think that will ever happen. Manuf. aren't interested in making them more powerful or necessarily more functional - that's why I believe it's in a niche market of it's own. These things are meant to be 1. SMALL, 2. LIGHT and 3. CHEAP, and I believe this is what they'll stick to. A prime example is the EEE with it's Baskin Robbins number of flavors. At first I thought they were crazy, and then I saw what they were up to. They're offering primarily the same tiny computer in such a variety that no matter who you are, there'll be one to fit you - even if you already own a full fledge notebook. Now other companies are slowly but sure doing the same thing....one has SSD, one has a HD, one has a sim slot, one has a 10 inch screen, one has 8.9 and I pretty much think that this will remain the theme so to speak, of the "netbook". A small, light, cheap mini-notebook with a bunch of options for people who are interested in perpetually carrying around their computer.
UMPC I'll agree with you can apply to netbooks though they are very different, but it's kind of like calling a heavy laptop a desknote. You can, but it just wouldn't be right - you really kind of have to detail it. The UMPC has already been somewhat established as somewhere between a smartphone + pda and a laptop at the most premium of prices. So basically a laptop with less than a 8 or so inch screen with all the functions of a laptop, and some added ones as a cell phone. So, I think it would be more viable? to class a netbook as a 'cheap' UMPC/MID while you'd class a desknote as a very heavy customizable laptop.
Netbooks were born from the idea of having a tiny computer to surf on. They weren't meant for much else. If the Ipod Touch had a 9 inch screen, you could almost call that a netbook. The first ones made by Asus were those 2G and 4Gs - come on, 2GB and 4GB....what else could you, or rather more correctly termed, WOULD you be able to do on those? And while they're getting bigger and better now, that's as far as convergence will go. There'll always be (imo) those separate tiers.
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|Point taken. My thought is that it is really a notebook designed for Internet use (i.e. surfing, email, and web based operations). Regardless, my point is that the term is useless as the notebook and "netbook" continue to converge where performance and portability are not sacrificed to get one or the other.
UMPC to me fits the model of small handheld devices that are equitable in performance to larger machines.
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|"ultraportable laptops"
I like that the best.
I've never been happy since laptops were called notebooks.
Also: my birthday... wooyeah
*ahem*
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|Happy Birthday, and what the hell are you doing here??
There's always: Laptop Mini, or Mintop, or UltraPDA...
How about Ultra Small Form Factor Model Portable Personal Computing Electronic Devices? (or USFFMPPCEDs for short)
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|I'm quietly delighted by the PCMCIA acronym. Long, piss-taking acronyms FTW.
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|To me, PCMCIA is Personal Computer Morris Cox Internet Association. Works for me. :)
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|Happy Belated Bday :)
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|Biros? What's that? A better choice probably would've been Xerox or Kleenex, since some areas of the country refer to photocopies or tissues as the brand names. But certainly Band-Aid is the primary example, as no one ever calls the product "plastic strips", as the packaging for other brands state.
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|A "Biro" is what many Britons call a ballpoint pen.
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|They're not called that anywhere else???
and @dkratter: "Plasters" are what "band aids" are actually called. So nerr.
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|They are actually adhesive bandages ( Band-Aids ). And Biro is what they ( ballpoint pens ) are called by British English and other Commonwealth countries.
Other such genericized trademarks include Windex, Q-tip, and Life Savers.
Latz, SB
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|Don't forget Frisbee!
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