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Self-Cleaning Glass
Chris writes "Consumers across Europe can now purchase self-cleaning glass that promises to keep windows free from dirt. The key to Activ glass is an ultra-thin coating only 40nm thick applied to the glass surface during the manufacturing process. The coating, which is based on titanium dioxide, works by combining the two beneficial effects. First, the ultraviolet wavelengths in sunlight react with a photocatalyst to break down organic debris on the glass. The second feature is that the coating is hydrophilic, meaning that when rain hits the glass, it doesn't form droplets. Rain water flows down the glass in a sheet and washes the dirt away."
The glass could kill, or at least damage me, if I hold on to it for too long?
Finally, corporations are responding to users. Rally around the cry, "I DON'T DO WINDOWS!"
Never confuse volume with power.
When are they going to make my plates and cups self-cleaning too?
... but last night I swear they were serving my beer in a self-emptying glass, and that was much less convenient. This morning, my hangover suggests that I may have been helping out.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Perma-Rain-X ? and what is to keep a bird or your pet animal from scratching this coating from the glass
Jon Bardin
If they would only do something for the *inside* that way I don't have to clean those as well!
whenever I clean my windows, my utility bill is lowered by two thirds since I can switch of all these lights during daytime :-)... :-)
darn that street and all that dust
But it still doesn't make it free from Bugs!
-Jasa -- Linux - The SOURCE will be with you, ALWAYS
Another one to my list of "must have"s when I move away from my parents!
if only toilet bowls were made out of the same material.
i work at a fortune 50 company, and i'm amazed at the amount of 'highly skilled' tech workers who can't take a shit without leaving crap on the side of the bowl.
This glass was announced at least a year ago. I'll try to find the source, I'll post it if I run across it.
You call it dirt, I call it bugs. Whatever. If they can do that, then I might just have to reinstall when the next version comes out!
They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution, to...protect me from the enemy, myself
...I thought that said "SELF-CLEANING CLASS", as if you Slashdot editors were trying to inform us that we (generally) don't have very good hygene and we may even need to go to school to learn to bathe properly.
Karma: NaN
Can I get a sheet of this material for my car?
And not just for the windows, cover the whole car! Never wash it again!
Sure! Call me lazy! I am!
If this stuff works like they say, it would be a great finish coat for cars. Instead of b*tching about it raining right after you give your ride a bath, the rain would *be* the bath! And with much of the country under drought conditions, think of all the water that could be conserved by eliminating the need to wash cars.
That would be a hydrophobic coating. Hydrophilic attracts moisture.
Problem is, all that work turns into upkeep, since it's far from permanent. Also, you still end up with spotting and streaking on the windshield from the wax being moved by the wipers.
This sorta thing could cut down on my maintenance costs, so that's a good thing - now if they could put it on the paint, i'd mess myself.
i'm amazed that i survived - an airbag saved my life.
Imagine, all that roadkill cleaning automagically off...mmm.
Sounds like this would be good for Mars rovers and the like. One of the problems that we have with rovers is that the glass on the photo cells get dirty and degrades the power output of the cells. I know that it doesnt rain on Mars, but this glass and some wind might prevent the degredation from reaching beyond some critical value.
Welcome to the land of the free...pay toll ahead...no photography...please open your bag...
Esp after a few hours browsing for PORN!!
(score -1 Redundant!)
what about something every geek could use? a self cleaning toilet.
> Consumers across Europe can now purchase self-cleaning glass that promises to keep windows free from dirt.
Sorry, could not resist.
i remember hearing about that thing about 6months ago... Perhaps then they made first ones now they can mass produce it... dunno..
Pulsed Media Seedboxes
And somewhere out there, there's a Case Modder who just wet his pants.
One cleaner was quoted as saying "as soon as everyone installs these Windows, the traditional squeegee and soap solutions which anyone can use will become extinct. These Windows will dominate the market, leaving only the poor and art-glass people to come up with truly community spirit based solutions with work for great glass cleaning engineers"
Then the skyscraper windowcleaner lift corporation also came in on the act "we can't fit these 'scrapers with our traditional pulley systems any more... sales are plummeting"
Cowboy Neal still manages to stain his new glass though.
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
Now if I could get that in my classes I'd be set, you have no idea how much stuff collects on them just from daily use (unless you wear glasses then you probably know how much stuff collects on them).
Blink
...to get the dirt of the window, then these will be pretty much useless in places like London and Amsterdam where the sun shines about three days a year.
No, I'm pretty sure that it is hydrophilic. Hydrophobic means it repels water, which would cause the water to form droplets, in order to reduce the surface area. Since it's hydrophilic, the water is attracted to the coating, which makes the water sheet.
-David Ziegler
-
What about the inside of the glass?
We definitely need an "TMI" moderation...
Are the first two things I want to see this used on.
Then I can see this used on car windows, computer monitors, and other glass surfaces.
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
Read this for more details
bytesmythe
Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together.
-- Scott Meyer
I wonder if in this day and age, the Windex people will just sue them into oblivion or even better, buy it all up and never actually sell any.
Of course if it does become available, I wonder if I can get my house made out of this stuff - I'd never have to clean again. Though I suppose I would still not be able to throw rocks. *grin*
The Digital Sorceress
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or two months now I have pondered to clean my windows. Triumph, I say! I was right not to do it! I will just get this stuff instead! Being lazy has finally paid off!
It seems the real market for this will be in Tall Buildings, although the article didn't seem to mention that.
I wonder what all those skyscrape window cleaners will do for work? I never understood how someone could just throw a rope over the edge of a building, and go down swinging back and forth cleaning the windows. Those moving platforms they have now at least look more stable, but with these new windows, those too might become obsolete.
The problem seems to be that it would only "clean" the windows when it rains. What about windows that are posistioned where the rain won't ever hit them? I guess you could just hose them off...
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
Could this substance be used to coat all of the glass and paint on my car so that I don't have to wash it as often?
Or at least so that it isn't as dirty as it is for as long as I tend to let it stay dirty?
Ok, cool, self cleaning windows.
Best application for these will probably be cars.
Question though, what happens if you get something non-organic on it... like spraypaint?
42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
What are they going to do when it never rains inside the building? "Oops" goes the marketing department.
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
A few weeks ago I found out that there was a dead bird in my chimney (sp?). I only found out when there where hundreds of flies in my house, all covering the windows. All the shops were closed, so I couldn't buy a spraycan with which to kill all the flies. Openening the windows didn't do the trick so the only viable option left was to swat them. You should have seenm those windows after I was finished. Lots of organic debris on the glass, but there isn't a self-cleaning window in the world that could keep itself clean with a carnage like this.
I could use it on my car
PPG is one of the largest manufacturers of residential windows and they have produced windows using the self-cleaning coating for several years now.
http://www.ppg.com/gls_sunclean/
maru
Now we just need some automatically reversible windows so we never have to wash them again.
Does this mean that I don't have to clean the ass print on my car windows after I moon someone during winter?
Gimme a break people! You can't throw away your Windex yet!
HallmarkOrnaments.Com
Well if it breaks down organics what does it break them down to? What will it smell like?
You wouldn't want this on your car windows. It would have the opposite effect that RainX produces. Visibility during rain would be very bad.
42
Technically completely wrong and modded up as "informative".
Thats one less thing for that guy at the peepshow to do
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Randal: Do you have any idea how much the average jizzmopper makes?
Dante: whats a jizzmopper?
Randel: the guy that cleans the windows in the nudie booths I dont know if you realize it but cum leaves streaks if you dont wipe it off
with apologies to Kevin Smith
According to Google there are over 1500 references to self cleaning glass, quite a few manufacters are already selling it, Pilkinton (uk glass company) and Sunclean seem to be the market leaders though Pilkington seem to claim "the worlds first". The BBC reported this technology in 2001, in 2002 Saint-Gobain Glass won a Siemens Award for innovation for their version
http://www.ppgsunclean.com/
http://www.activglass.com/
http://www.afgglass.com
http://www.saint-gobain-glass.com
The article didn't say anything about self-cleaning crack pipes. Noelle Bush might be interested in one.
"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq"
-- Paul Wolfowitz, 7/21/2003
And though it's a great idea, it only really works in cities, and doesn't clean *everything*, just oil-based stuff from traffic (and then the dust that sticks to those oils).
It creates a small amount of nitrous acid from rain - it seems someone likes acid rain...but only if it does work for us!
While it'll get rid of marks from kids blowing raspberries on the window, it won't clear up the mud from their fingers.
Titanium is a very poisonous metal. Is it really a good idea to cover all our windows with it?
It also creates strong oxidants which themselves are cancerogenous...
The Doom is Near
UV light wouldn't travel through the glass, it has to come from the same side the dirt is on.
If glass or transparent plastic were a bit cheaper, you could just replace the windows and not need to clean them.
How about a thin plastic film which you spray onto the glass and just peel off when it gets dirty?
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
One step closer to transparent aluminum.
(Hello... Computer?)
M@
Krispy Cream is people
Excellent! Now we can plant grass without those pesky side effects like helping prevent flash-flooding of urban areas. No longer do we have to cover the earth with concrete, now plants can have equally harmful properties.
I wonder if this was developed because of labor laws. Europe and my home country Holland have been tightening rules on what labor is safe to do for ppl, and what kind of measures should be taken to insure safety in the workplace.
:-) Of course the developers might just be lazy bums like me, who hate to clean windows ;-)
Because of this ladders aren't allowed anymore for windowwashers going up more than one or two floors. These tightened rules have made it either impossible or ridiculously expensive to clean windows in some hard to reach.
These windows might solve this
beauty is only a light switch away
No guys... you have it all wrong... HydroPHOBIC would be when windows are scared of water, right???
the ultraviolet wavelengths in sunlight react with a photocatalyst to break down organic debris
Johnny didn't I tell you not to get your sticky fingerprints all over the glass?
Ah.. it hurts mommy.. my fingers hurt
Ok, that wasn't as funny as I thought, plus someone already probably did something better anyhow. Damn you people and your reading abilities.
A tip passed down by some family member - and it works! .. I put 'Avon Bubble Bath' on my windshield and it gives the same sort of effect.
Okay, I don't know what goes on when UV hits it, but the water sheets and it seriously keeps the windshield pretty clean.
It always makes me think of the infomercial for Durashine (c'mon, I know you've all seen it).
..mork
As with every new windows technology, this one's bound to have some bugs, annoying unexpected features, and unfortunate tendencies to be cracked.
$8.95/mo web hosting
You lamer, you remember that rant!
:-]
Either that or you didn't RTFA. But since it's almost a direct quote, FSCK U!
Next we cross, yer rocket meat.
- da PanZaA
From their site:
:)
Yes. The surface contains harmless chemical substances already found in the home, in such things as toothpaste and paint. In fact, with only small amounts of cleaning agents needed, Pilkington Activ(TM) self-cleaning glass is kinder to the environment than ordinary glass.
Funny they should use paint as an example, since it generally has a fair amount of harmFUL chemical substances
Self-cleaning Windows was introduced in WinXP SP1.
:-)
Just type this into IE... hcp://system/DFS/uplddrvinfo.htm?file://c:\*
Warning: I don't take any responsibility if Windows is 'cleaned' off your hard drive by doing this.
I read about this years ago.
I don't know about window glass, but Pyrex's glass bakingware has had a very effective nonstick coating for some years now. Dump out whatever you baked in it, and the dish is almost completely clean, needing only a bit of rinsing to get it squeaky-clean.
The downside is, the nonstick surface scratches very easily, kinda like old-style teflon did.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
I think you mean hydrophobic, since a hydrophilic substrate would "love" the H2O and either let it pass through itself or bead up on the surface.
There was a demo of a prototype of this about a year ago on the BBC.
Basically, if I remember correctly, the conclusion was that it was pretty good, but extremely expensive, and probably of most use for windows that are difficult to get to, like on roofs of biospheres, that kind of thing.
"the ultraviolet wavelengths in sunlight react with a photocatalyst to break down organic debris on the glass"
Not much use in Britain then...
Have you ever seen two (or, if you happen to own a Mercedes, one) metal arm thingie with a rubber blade just lying about at the lower end of your windscreen? That's right - wipers!
With this stuff, we won't need any jizz-moppers anymore! Read on:
Randal: [reading magazine] Have you ever wondered how much the average jizz-mopper makes per hour?
Dante: What's a jizz-mopper?
Randal: He's the guy that cleans up the nudie booth after each guy jerks off.
Dante: Nudie booth?
Randal: Yeah, nudie booth. You've never been in a nudie booth?
Dante: I guess not.
Randal: Oh, it's great. There's this glass wall between you and these chicks, and they put on a show for you for like 10 bucks.
Dante: What kinda show? [customer walks up to counter]
Randal: They do the weirdest, craziest shit you like to see chicks do. They insert things into any opening on their body-ANY opening.
Dante: Could we not talk about this now?
Randal: The jizz-mopper's job is to clean off the glass after each guy shoots a load. I don't know if you noticed, but cum leaves streaks if you don't clean it right away.
Customer: I will never come to this place again!
Dante: I'm sorry? [I could have sworn he says 'excuse me']
Customer: Using filthy language in front of the customers, you both should be fired.
Dante: I'm sorry, I guess we got carried away.
Customer: I don't know if sorry could make up for it, you've highly offended me.
Randal:Well, if you think that's offensive, check this out! [shows him graphic picture from porn mag] I think you can see her kidneys!
Customer: Aaaaargh!
One extra insight -- what does the customer bring up to the counter?? You guessed it! Paper towels and glass cleaner! Hahaha, what an incredible movie
Berto
I never saw a picture of the glass, but I am guessing it has a similar surface to that a ginkgo leaf , which is also self cleaning. Biomimicry is the field of science that is looking at nature for ideas for inventions. Could be anything... genetic algorithms... The book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature is an intresting read. I met the author Janine M. Benyus. She is very nice and down to earth.
Is this slated for use in car windshields? If so, I wonder how this will affect the detection range of radar detectors.
A few years ago, there was a study of cars with windshields that use certain tinting and weatherproofing that (incadently) reduces the efficency of radar detectors, cutting detection range from 60-80%. There's some info on it here, and a bit more info here.
-Turkey
coat my 16 month old son with this? He gets dirty within 30 seconds of coming out of the bath.
;-]
Please make sure to leave air and sight holes.
-
Now, if this would remove the nose prints my cat leaves on the inside of my windows they'd really have something...
WOO! Ideal for students like me! Now I don't have to wash my windows anymore!!
err... anymore? hehe, I've never done them anyway
sig(h)
When can I get this for my car? I would love to come out in the morning to windows free of dew or bug guts! Driving in a hard rain would be much nicer too. Easily worth a 20% premium for the cost of a windshield.
Great! I won't have to take the extra time to wipe the fingerprints from my neighbor's window every eveni...
oh, wait...never mind.
This has been available in the US for a while.
I've been pricing new windows for my house, and the self-cleaning stuff is an (expensive) upgrade.
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
Can they still walk on it?
is the glass environment friendly
will it harm the environment
this is the most important point to consider
If the water forms sheets, the glass must be hydrophilic. If it were hydrophobic the water would bead. Look at what happens when you wax your car....
can I get that stuff on my car too? Breaks down dirt and rain flows over the windscreen without forming drops - no wipers required!
Actually, the first thing I thought of was the inside of my microwave oven. Damn food splatters everywhere.
So the same tech used in powdered donuts (titanium dioxide, if you read the label) is now applied toward building materials! It's like carnuba wax all over again!!
i use IE3.02 for security reasons, so the linked site doesnt display properly.. i checked the source, and still couldnt find any mention of pricing.. so, let me make an assumption and warn ya.. i work in an art framing store, all high end stuff.. the coated glass products (denglas water white, truvue museum glass, etc) all cost MANY times the price of ordinary glass.. a pack of 4 sheets of museum glass 32x40 inches costs us over 300 dollars wholesale.. and this 'self cleaning' glass is much more recent technology and thicker coating.. expect to pay through the ass for this stuff..
not that windows arent already outrageously priced as it is.....
Also, would the glass itself stop the portion of the spectrum that activates the cleaning process for any inside layer?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This glass uses a coating which uses and absorbs UV light to break down dirt. Solar cells unfortunately need the UV light to fuction properly
..........FULL STOP.
The idea of using titanium to render glass self cleaning was published in Nature under the title "Light-induced amphiphilic surfaces" (388:431-432). titanium dioxide is generated by coating the surface and then exposing the glass to uv, e.g., putting it outside in the sun. The uniqueness of the titanium coating is because it loves both water (hydrophilic) and long chain carbons, such as soap (oleophilic). This combination (amphiphilic) sounds a lot like a good bath. And since it needs the sun to be activated, is particularly good for windshields.
I was wondering if something similar could not be done for grafitti. You spray a thin coat over a given street sign, for example.
When the "artist" fouls it, you spray on a chemical that dissolves the coating, and the grafitti then flows off with the dissolved coat.
Then hose it down and put on a fresh coat again.
Table-ized A.I.
Solar cells unfortunately need the UV light to fuction properly
That's not true. The spectra of radiation that can be converted to energy by a solar cell is directly related to the bandgap energy of the material the cell is made from, and there is an optimum (for efficiency) bandgap that corresponds to the visible spectrum of light. Most solar cells do not convert significant energy in the UV area of the spectrum
That's part of the reason that solar cells are quoted as being only 10-15% efficient. That's of the total solar spectrum. Most are better than 50% efficient within the relatively narrow part of the spectrum that they are tuned for.
For a little more information, see the ever popular How Stuff Works.
It would be nice to have glassware that is hydrophillic. Some of the more annoying aspects of lab work, especially when dealing with small volumes, is droplets sticking to surfaces. Having (sub 1ml) pipette tips coated with a hydrophillic film would really alleviate the headache of getting every microliter of your liquid, greatly increacing the accuracy of delivery to boot. Self-cleaning glass would also help decrease the chance of a contamination from a previous experiment. Having a hydrophillic surface would also ease dissolving solids into liquids because of the adhesion of the powder to the glass and your attempt to rinse ot off will only create concentrated pools of semi-desolved solution sticking to the glass. Hydrophillic surfaces might even lessen the static clinging of powders to glassware.
Is a coating like this on the inside of my toilet, shower, and sinks. Hell, coat my whole damn apartment.
That would be great!
The window cleaners union, the Windex corporation and the RainX corporation - known as the Windows Cleaning Association of America (WCAA) announced today that anyone who uses self cleaning glass is a theif and possibly a terrorist.
"Self Cleaning glass violates the contract you have with the glass cleaning industry...it's theft, plain and simple" an industry spokesman said earlier today.
Citing the DMCA the glass cleaning industry is taking a cue from the entertainment industry and has decided to spend all of thier R&D money on a team of lawyers and lobbyists.
Senator Hollins is already on board, receiving a lifetime supply of rainX in response for saying that "The window cleaning industry is yet another obsolete business model that we can keep alive through the use of scare tacticts, systematic removal of the publics liberties, and congressional market manipulation."
It appears the current plan is to not only make it illegal to own any self cleaning glass, but also to own any glass that isn't "trusted". There will be a new microchip in all windows that will identify itself to your windex or rainX bottles. If the bottle does not receive proper identification your window will be shot at by company jets patrolling US neighborhoods. All older windows will be exempt for now, but the industry is fighting to get mandatory compliance by 2007.
However this has some consumer advocates in an uproar. Spokesman from the EFF had this to say:
"Someday the only 'free' option will be to have no windows at all. Our children and elderly will freeze to death. Our houses will become damaged from the rain and the wind. This is not freedom. But freedom is not what America stands for anymore. Profit is. This is all about Profit for the Window Cleaning corporation."
Intel and Microsoft shares rose 3% on the news that the new Secure Windows OS could be used for the "Trusted" window identification scheme proposed by Hollins and the WCAA.
I think you mean hydrophobic- repels water rather than hydrophilic - attracts water
This was announced last year here
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
God bless America(tm)...
My deviantArt site
Thats what scientology offers. a self cleaning soul. ONce you learn about Xenu ....
(poster has just exploded in a great big fireball) excuse the mess. You see its forbidden for someone in the church of scientology to say, write, or type the word XENU
XEMU
XENU
Does Erika Christensen know that 75 million years ago X%$# brought millions of people to earth and put them around the volcanoes of the world and then blew them all up with hydrogen bombs. And then actually forced the souls of these dead people to watch films for several hours. And then waited for one hell of a long time until humans actually appeared on the planet. And then covered every human like fleas thus causing the humans all kinds of grief. And the only way to get rid of these fleas was to go through AUDITING at a Scientology parsonage for a whole bunch of money.
Does Erika Christensen know these things?
[Butthead]: This... Is the Coolest Thing... I have Ever Seen. :b
.
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Europeans often still build homes for themselves and expect to live in them for a lifetime or generations. Then, it makes sense to pay for extra conveniences.
I owned and operated a large window cleaning business for over 15 years. This kind of thing has been around since the mid-80s. It does work, sort of, for awhile.
First we had polymer and silicone coatings, (like Rain-X and its cousins) which prevented stuff from sticking to the glass, so rainwater would just wash it away. It works OK for awhile, 'til the coating weathers away. In most places, this takes about a year or two. Then you're wanting to wash the windows, as often as ever.
Then there are metallic coatings, which give skyscraper windows their pretty tint, and insulate from strong sun. This new self-cleaning technology is very similar- a metallic or metal oxide coating on the glass. Unfortunately, this is also subject to weathering. Rainwater is acidic- very acidic when combined with the dust and soot that accumulates on buldings in cities. This acid literally eats away metal and glass.
Next time you look at a glass building, look for discoloration in the tint, where the water runs off. It's there on every big building and skylight. Bird poop is also very acidic, and also eats away at the metallic tint. That's why it's important to remove it- if you don't, it can leave ugly spots. Beyond that, the glass itself can become pitted and rough- either from acidic runoff, or mineral deposits from hard water.
So whether or not this technology works (and it looks like it does), it won't replace traditional window cleaning unless they can make it impervious to weathering. This is the hard problem, which to my knowledge, no one has solved.
Of course, this isn't to say that fast talking glass salesmen won't sell a lot of this stuff to idiot architects and developers.
Make an entire table setting out of this. You pull them out of their box, set the plates, cups, and silverware on the table, and never have to move them again! No more soapy water to deal with, no more looking for a last clean cup under the sofa! Bliss...
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
With this technology, I wonder how many Linux geeks will start to do Windows ;-)
Well, Pilkington does make auto glass -- my new Mitsubishi Diamante has their glass. My guess is that if some European/Asian automaker asks for it, they'll do it if it's technogically feasible (i.e. can it meet safety regs).
Interesting point about radar detectors -- I tend not to use one, since there's not a lot of speed limit enforcement around Atlanta, and the few municipalities that aggressively enforce speed laws tend to use laser rather than radar.
claims to last 6 months.. In reality, it is in fact very close to that. I've found it much better than Rain-X.. Give it a try.
Warren
Now LA just needs to convert all their street signs to glass. It might be cheaper than barb wire.
It would be really interesting to have self cleaning monitors. Everyone seems to forget to clean the fingerprint and sneeze crud off of them. Of course, there are no windows anywhere near my cubicle, so glass that uses UV to break down grime is out of the question.
This is going to make my life so much easier. It might be too expensive to have to do the entire house with this stuff, but I'd gladly pay extra to have a shower screen that doesn't end up with all those little spots from droplets of water that have dried ont he glass.
Not only would the glass not get as dirty, but cleaning it should be a lot easier, just hose it down. It should dry streak free!
Sounds silly, but anything that gets me out of having to clean the shower every weekend is a good thing.
Democracy isn't about no one telling you what to do. It's about everyone telling you what to do.
Birdshit off the windows, woohoo. Now where in the hell is my self cleaning bong?!?
Isn't this the exact same technology that made one of the protagonists of Clarke's novels--something cowritten or ghostwritten about earthquakes....
Man, I feel dorky.
auto glass repairers recommend not using rain-x or otherwise coating the windscreen. This is because if or when you get a chip in your glass, the resin that they use to repair the chip will not bond properly to the cracked glass. Hence the repair will only delay the crack, and you will have to replace the windscreen soon enough.
But if you want to the run the risk go for rain-x, its definately the best for its purpose, if you want the same effect on the cheap, my father used to add a small amount of methylated spirits when cleaning the windscreen.
BTW: Rain-x has an anti-fog product to stop PVC vapour, etc sticking to the inside of the windscreen, thereby stopping fogging.