Archive for the ‘Ideas’ Category:
Netbook Bios Idea for ISO Files
So I was thinking the other day after I found this article over at Lifehacker about WinCDEmu that can auto-mount .iso, .img, etc. files into virtual drives in Windows. I know physical media is slowly dying out and it probably won’t be too long until we don’t have those formats any more. But wouldn’t it be cool if your netbook had an option in the bios to have a virtual CD/DVD drive? You could have a simple option in the BIOS to turn it on and then just point the BIOS to the .iso/.img file and boot off it like you would with any normal CD/DVD. I guess the option could exist to copy the file to a USB drive first (in case you are going to be formatting your hard drive). But overall it would just let you mount a file as a virtual drive in the BIOS level. This way it wouldn’t matter what OS you are running because even when you are booted to the OS the BIOS would be able to tell your OS that you have a new virtual CD/DVD drive and your OS wouldn’t know the difference.
I think this is something similar to what the MacBook Air has with its drive sharing, but that needs network and another computer that has the drive to share. I don’t know why that couldn’t be applied just to a file that exists on a USB drive or something. Although OSX already automounts .iso files inside the OS, and I applaud them for this, you shouldn’t have to have a OS running to carry out this basic task.
I just thought I would throw this out there because in my head it makes a lot of sense, especially with machines getting smaller and smaller, I think CD/DVD drives will soon be obsolete (especially on notebooks).
If this is already possible on computers, and I am just crazy, please let me know in the comments.
Software Recycler
I had an idea a while ago for a website that I know I will never be able to act on so I thought I would just post it here and maybe someday someone will find it and have the time and know-how to complete it.
The basic idea for the website is to be a software recycler. The site allows you to donate your old/unused software either digitally or by mailing in the CD/DVD, and it also allows you to download software you are looking for completely free (donations accepted). With so many software companies just allowing you to download installers and emailing you a key this would be fairly easy to implement.
The site’s main goal would be to support free and open source replacements like Linux, Open Office, and Gimp for common applications, but there would also be the opportunity to get a license key for Windows XP, Microsoft Office, and Photoshop. Most of the funding for this site would come from donations of people downloading software and ads for the open source counterparts. I would imagine this site would mainly be non-profit though simply because of the amount of server storage and bandwidth needed to host this.
Large companies often buy software only to phase it out in two or three years. The software works just fine and for third world countries, non-profit companies, and individuals this could save a lot of money and stop the needless purchase of software if someone is no longer using the key for software they just upgraded. Similar cases would be when companies like Microsoft stop supporting Windows XP. There are going to be countless unused keys for legal versions of XP that I am sure a lot of people would love to have and countries can take advantage of.
The idea of donating your unused license I am sure would have a lot of legal implications, but I think once the software has been purchased it is able to be sold/given to anyone once the initial purchaser is done with it. There would also need to be a verification process when the software is donated. The way I think of it would be to have some sort of VM running a installer to verify its authenticity, but for volume licenses a phone call would probably need to be made to the developer of the software.
I think a website that could allow this service could not only help open source projects but it would also help the world by saving money and getting the word out about free alternatives. Let me know what you do with your old software and what website you think the world could benefit from in the comments.