Introduction

Webconverger is a simple LiveCD that enables anyone to boot a pc and “run the web”. Basically it runs Debian with Firefox in kiosk mode, which enables you to browse and use web-apps around the world wherever you are. And all without exposing any personal details obviously. Webconverger (unfortunately) has some basic flaws which need to be solved before and can become even interesting as a solution.

Marketing

“Webconverger is an evolution of the hybrid client for deployments in places like offices or Internet cafes where only Web applications are used.” - this is the mindbogglingly difficult description on the website that wouldn’t stick with my mother. If I understand it right, then Webconverger is not aimed at tech-savvy geeks who own a laptop but at the average Joe who isn’t interested in tech. This makes this description so badly conceived that I think we have a clear case of unexperienced marketing. Webconverger really has to target these Joes to make them understand why this product is important to them! PresentationZen has a nice article about presentation and the big question that is left with Webconverger: “Why does this matter?”

Functionallity

A major issue with tools like these is that they don’t matter to most people, and what makes them matter is good functionality. The persuasion that gets a person to use your tool instead of another tool is something that need a lot of time and intention, but it is always worth the trouble. Webconverger doesn’t add anything that will give the user the feeling of something of a “home on a CD”, and this is just what is needed to persuade an average Joe. For example, I can imagine that a normal person doesn’t use most of the web2.0 technologies to manage his online live, so some solution to quickly import bookmarks into his Firefox over the web would be a necessary functionality

Additionally I doubt that a user, in a place where he doesn’t want to or trusts to use the provided Operating System, is able to boot from this CD and connect to the internet. Configuring the internet access in a foreign place can be a hard thing to do that people just don’t want spent their time on. I think that techniques like U3 (although windows only) solve this problem perfectly as you keep using the OS but still carry around your own settings and applications on a USB drive.

CD’s are just too 1999!

Conclusion

Although it is a nice idea, and I really like Hendry’s enthusiasm, I think that Webconverger really needs a round of user-testing testing and and and extra development cycle to make it interesting to my mother. Sadly the current product is both too much of an hassle to the people who need it, and to little of a treat to the ones that need to be convinced.