Dell Intros Quick-Boot OS, Latitude ON Flash

The Latitude ON Flash was designed by Dell as a less costly instant OS offering meant for use with the Latitude E4200, E4300 and Z laptop models. It should be a substitute for the Latitude ON, an OMAP-based add-in card that enables immediate access of business tools for the supported notebooks without having to boot up the actual operating system. The new Latitude ON Flash has similar business features but it does not provide the long battery life as it relies on the laptop's CPU to run instead of a dedicated processor.

“By running on a low-cost memory card Latitude ON | FLASH delivers a broad level of functionality at a significantly lower price point than the original Latitude ON OMAP-based offering;” said Lionel Menchaca in a Dell blog post. “However, that does also mean that you don't run the software on a dedicated processor that requires significantly less power, customers using the cheaper Latitude ON| FLASH will not get the benefit of potentially multi-day battery life.”

The Latitude ON Flash is set somewhere in between the Latitude ON Reader and the full OMAP version with dedicated processor. It is a secure environment with Multi-user login, strong password protection and is designed to withstand malware and viruses. The instant OS can make full use of the aforementioned laptop line's WiFi and LAN 10/100/1000 connectivity options and is even capable of Chat and VoIP Chat (ICQ, MSN, Google Talk, AIM and Yahoo Messenger).

The quick-boot operating system is even able, in order to meet the need for comprehensive handling of business data, to recognize and read doc files created with the Microsoft Office 2000, XP, 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2010 editions. In addition, if an Internet connection is available, the Latitude ON Flash can even read Adobe PDF 8.1 files. Not only that but the instant OS supports JAVA, Adobe Flash, and remote desktop capabilities including the RDP and the Citrix and VMware Remote Desktop services.

The new instant OS will be available as an upgrade for the aforementioned Latitude E4200, E4300, and Z laptop lines and is priced at only $50, which is $149 cheaper than the full OMAP version of the Latitude ON. The blog doesn't give out anything specific except for the fact that Dell's official site will be offering it soon.