Intel: We worked on improving boot up performance for netbooks

Intel set out two years ago to create a PC-like device that booted quickly and without the average two to three minutes of waiting as it loads. So said Dirk Hotndel, chief open source and Linux technologist for Intel at the OSCON 2009 conference for open source developers. According to InformationWeek, Hotndel elaborated on how Intel engineers "sought to eliminate delays, reduce the number of steps, and minimize the amount of data that needed to be loaded."

Hotndel was referring to netbooks, and specifically on efforts to improve the boot performance of initial devices, which are based on Linux. He elaborated on how changes were made to the Linux kernel so that the apparent load time to the user is even faster.

Of course, most netbooks sold these days run on Microsoft's venerable Windows XP operating system. Still, the tweaks to Linux is reminiscent of similar engineering efforts that Microsoft expanded to make Windows 7 run even better with the latest Intel processors. And you know what? I'm looking forward to the arrival of new hardware loaded with Windows 7.

For more on this story:
- check out this article from InformationWeek