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Startup Webaroo to put the 'Web on a Hard Drive'?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the starting-the-data-storage-arms-race dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A new startup called Webaroo is launching Monday with an audacious proposition: You can search the Web without a net connection of any kind. Initial release consists of 'Web packs' on specific topics such as news, city guides or Wikipedia. Later this year they're promising a full-Web version that you can carry on a laptop -- provided you're willing to devote something in the neighborhood of 80 gig."

8 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. Dotcom v3.0 by Saven+Marek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A new startup called Webaroo is launching Monday with an audacious proposition: You can search the Web without a net connection of any kind.

    If anyone doubted the next dotcom boom is upon us, this should put that doubt to rest.

    1. Re:Dotcom v3.0 by caffeinemessiah · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I was JUST thinking that. This seems like the beginning of a whole slew of semi-ridiculous ideas that get funded because their proponents seem 'ahead of their time'. Did someone at a funding company not think of the following two points:

      1) the web is growing at a phenomenal rate. in a few years, the only thing that you'll be able to fit on even high-density media is very narrow, specific content. is there really such a huge market for that?

      2) wifi is nearly ubiquitous. why pay for a static snapshot of the web that will be obsolete in a few days when you can walk into a starbucks with you laptop and get the fresh stuff almost for free??

      I'm sure the guys who want to put the web on a disk have thought these points through, but me...I just really want to sigh. and buy some short-term stocks.

      --
      An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
    2. Re:Dotcom v3.0 by Bogtha · · Score: 5, Insightful

      wifi is nearly ubiquitous.

      I think you're way off on this one. On the other hand, I have a suitable substitute:

      2. What the hell are they going to do about the copyright issues?

      --
      Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
    3. Re:Dotcom v3.0 by Xeriar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What the hell are they going to do about the copyright issues?

      Quoted for truth. I know I'm not the only one who thought "Hey, this would be cool... but the target websites are going to be pissed about losing their ad revenue."

      For sites like Wikipedia and others whose goal is the distribution of their content, this isn't as much of a big deal (unless, in the case of Wikipedia, they snapshot a vandalized site...), but a lot of content providers won't be happy about getting their ad revenue stolen.

      --
      I am a science fantasy fan
  2. How are they going to handle dynamic things.. by Idimmu+Xul · · Score: 3, Insightful

    e.g. searching? Having Wikipedia on your hdd is all well and good, but if you can't easily search it, what's the point?

    --
    The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
  3. Re:80 gig web? by hlh_nospam · · Score: 4, Insightful
    No images and compression on the text would probably change that quite a bit.

    Not enough so's you'd notice. What's the difference between one thimbleful of ocean and 100 thimblefuls of ocean? Besides trying to solve the wrong problem to begin with?

    --
    Concealed Handgun License Courses in Plano, Texas
  4. Is this even legal? by sunwolf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How are they to justify selling other peoples' websites? What about the sites' lost ad revenues?

  5. Re:Hm.. by edbulldog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The only way one can store the "whole internet" in a 80GB drive is to drop off the pr0n. I mean... besides the pr0n, everything else should fit in a 80GB drive, right?