here's what would make the most sense, and what I believe will be the next great os...I don't think long horn will be much greater then xp

I believe that in the very near future, the harddrive will be used for the sole purpose of repopulating it's entire contents into a ram disc, to the point where it would also be designed as virtual memory system for those that would need even more of a ram disc then the current technology would be able to provide.

for instance, a 20 gig harddrive will also have a twenty gig ram disc.

the harddrive, on boot, will repopulate the twenty gig ramdisc...but it would also be set up to use it's contents as the virtual (in this case, actual) address for the just incase scenario that ram need exceeds what's iinstalled.

I think this is virtually (a play on words), what xp is trying to accomplish...assign as much ram as possible, and at the same time, have it available for more immediate use (release) when neccessary...(for instance, in the case of compressed files)

xp will write info that is in ram to the pagefile long before it's needed and used, so as to make a hard fault seemless.

Thing is, they are still limited by the fact that they are bulky, and have less GB per inch.

I have a one gig flash card for my phone that is no bigger then a fingernail...a hardrive with these in tandem seems to me to be quite small

The hybird drive prototypes were announced about 6 months ago. The flash life issue was addressed. They will have to code Vista to be selective in what gets put on the flash. Drivers, system files that don't change etc. which will speed boot time. These files will a be semi-permanently resident on the flash and backed up on the HD.

Cookies, data files, pagefile all will have to go onto the HD platter.

for instance exactly as I predicted way back on that thread I linked to up top when I said the next great os would use a hybrid hardrive

*buffs fingernails*

Now someone needs to explain why Vista can't just do the same using a thumb drive in a USB port instead of us all having to go buy new HD$.

PS Before I get jumped on, that last was a joke. USB is no faster than HD data transfer, though seek time is much better.

Windows Vista introduces a new concept in adding memory to a system. Windows ReadyBoost lets users use a removable flash memory device, such as a USB thumb drive, to improve system performance without opening the box. Windows ReadyBoost can improve system performance because it can retrieve data kept on the flash memory more quickly than it can retrieve data kept on the hard disk, decreasing the time you need to wait for your PC to respond. Combined with SuperFetch technology, this can help drive impressive improvements in system responsiveness.

Windows ReadyBoost technology is reliable and provides protection of the data stored on your device. You can remove the memory device at any time without any loss of data or negative impact to the system; however, if you remove the device, your performance returns to the level you experienced without the device. Additionally, data on the removable memory device is encrypted to help prevent inappropriate access to data when the device is removed.

There's setbacks to the flash drive method. What if the drive dies, what if it's removed. crucial files could be lost, unless windows doesn't put completely crucial files on there.