Windows on USB drive in the works
Written by admin on March 6th, 2008 in Gadgets.
Microsoft plans to alter the portable computing landscape with its ongoing development on Windows StartKey, a portable USB flash drive which can store your customized Windows settings, desktop wallpaper, contacts, data, application, profiles, and possibly the whole bootable installation. This is an interesting concept for Windows users who are always on the go but perhaps too tired or too lazy to bring their laptops. More importantly, it is more feasible as backup system in case something bad happens to your PC or laptop. In short, you can turn virtually any Windows-based computer into your own personal workstation.
Aside from its USB flash drive version, Microsoft is also working on different flash memory types and storage formats such as SD cards. Even though there’s no official word yet from Microsoft about StartKey, there are speculations that will be available towards the end of this year.
Conversely, StartKey is not free of flaws. The most apparent one is security risks involved since anyone can easily misplace or even steal a very small device like USB flash drives. To make matters worse, there are some technical loopholes which might endanger data privacy. At any rate, StartKey is a work in progress and I’m sure the geeks at Microsoft have the answers to these questions. They just don’t want to reveal it to us yet. So, stay tune and we will monitor the progress of this one.
Via [ars technica] Via [ubergizmo]
Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →
Tags: dvr, digital, video games, pvp
